


Monstertale

by VanillaHoneyMarchMallow



Series: Monstertale [1]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: 1st of a series, Action/Adventure, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, But what are the consequences, Everyone has feelings, F/F, F/M, Female Frisk (Undertale), Flowey character development arc, Gen, Has nothing to do with the MonsterTale AU, Male Chara (Undertale), Multi, Mystery solving, Sans Flowey and Frisk are a trio, Sans character development arc, The three of them together is chaotic but we all love that don't we, There are Monsters and there are monsters, Tra la la Monsters Humans Flowers, Undertale Pacifist Route, We're trying to save goatbro
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:27:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 40,236
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25236907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VanillaHoneyMarchMallow/pseuds/VanillaHoneyMarchMallow
Summary: "There is a prophecy. The Angel... The One Who Has Seen The Surface... They will return. And the underground will go empty."Frisk only had one goal, and that's to SAVE everyone. And that meant EVERYONE. No matter how many RESETs it took.With all the determination she has in her SOUL, she will make that prophecy come true.“heh heh heh…i’m sorry, but i really gotta ask,” Sans opened his eyes, and there was nothing but blackness in them, accompanying his grim smile."W h a t    k i n d     o f      g a m e      d o      y o u      t h i n k     y o u ' r e      p l a y i n g      h e r e ,      h u h      k i d ?"
Relationships: Chara & Asriel Dreemurr, Chara & Frisk (Undertale), Flowey & Frisk (Undertale), Flowey & Sans (Undertale), Frisk & Sans (Undertale), Papyrus & Sans (Undertale), W. D. Gaster & Sans
Series: Monstertale [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1828105
Comments: 35
Kudos: 50





	1. 9999

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She will never welcome a new day until she gets this right.

Frisk lost count of how many times she had left the underground and saw this same night sky.

Over the horizon, the mix of orange and pink marked the beginnings of a new day.

But no. Not like this. She will never welcome a new day until she gets this right.

* * *

**9993**

Frisk woke up in a bed of flowers.

She was greeted by a golden flower wearing a grimace on his face – disappointed in her return. 

Flowey left, wordlessly.

Frisk muttered an “I’m sorry” that reached no one’s ears.

**9994**

_"if we’re really friends, you won’t come back.”_

_I’m sorry, Sans._

“ _Go to hell.”_

**9995**

Frisk stayed in the Ruins, slept next to Toriel each night, and never left.

The door to the exit was destroyed. 

**9996**

Dust caked on her hands.

_It was an accident, I swear._

**9997**

Opening her menu, a black figure with glowing white eyes appeared before her. It said nothing, but it watched her intently. 

It was frightening. 

**9998**

The Monsters were freed once again.

It’s been three days since the barrier was broken. Frisk hasn’t opened the menu since. Even as she was sprawled out on her bed in Home, she was restless. Her mind blank, yet her heart heavy.

There was pie waiting next to her on the carpet, but she didn’t really feel up to it at the moment. 

She looked to her window where a golden flower in a pot sat.

Then, Frisk got an idea.

* * *

It's been three days since the barrier was broken. Asriel had regressed into a flower again and was now all alone in the Ruins. Though back to his ‘soullessness’, thankfully his memories of feeling from the latest ending had prevented him from doing anything drastic.

So he quietly looked up at the hole where golden sunlight poured onto him. 

He could hear the birds from the outside world chirping.

He could hear the faint sounds of rustling leaves from the trees up there.

He could hear…

He could hear footsteps getting closer.

Flowey turned around, but immediately, his expression turned sour.

“’sup, weed?”

Flowey turned away with a sound that gave Sans the impression he wanted to puke. “Get out of here, smiley trashbag.”

“nice to see you too.” 

Flowey grumbled. He really didn’t want to deal with _him,_ of all people right now.

“aw, c’mon. don’t _leaf_ me hangin’ like that. i’m just here to have a little chat with ya.” Sans spoke, carefree like he always did, but Flowey still refused to look. 

“Why don’t you take your terrible humor someplace else? I’m not interested in anything you have to say.” 

“i wouldn’t be that way if i were you.”

Flowey jerked back. The skeleton was now right in front of him.

Sans smirked. Even the freaky glare the flower gave him only added to his amusement. 

“so, heard ya often get visitors here other than me?”

Flowey scowled. Sans’ grin became wider. 

“and you were expecting her, weren’t you?”

“I don’t _ask_ her to come here, if that’s what you’re being such a drama queen about. _AHK -!_ ” 

Grabbed by his stem and forced out of the ground, Flowey was now eye to eye with the skeleton. 

“well, i’m not about to tolerate that.” Sans winked his right eye shut, watching him with the one Flowey knew meant hostility. “and knowing you like to, heh, _plant_ certain ideas into people’s heads, i’m afraid i have to take action sometime.” 

Sans tightened his hold around his stem. Flowey choked, unable to even yelp, but gave him his meanest glare. 

"that being said..." His left eye glowed. “you better _back off_ , weed.”

Absent of any grace, Sans dropped him to the ground. Flowey gasped and shot an angry look at his worst enemy.

“I don’t even _want_ her here.” 

“don’t care. just don’t step out of line.” Sans’ smile was gone. He turned his heel and headed towards the door. 

“Or what? You’re gonna give me a bad time?” 

“ciao.” Sans waved him off. 

Flowey glared at his retreating form. “For who are you doing this for?”

Sans snapped himself out of sight.

* * *

Sure enough, Frisk visited Flowey.

It was the fourth day since the barrier was shattered. The Monsters were still busy gathering their things at this time, so no one knew what awaited them beyond the mountain yet. Frankly, neither did Frisk, she told him.

Flowey barely had memories of other times, but she often went to him whenever the run was over. Whenever he asked her why, her most honest answer was because all she had left were her thoughts now, and she’d rather not have that. For some reason, Flowey couldn’t tell her to scram. 

Her knees tucked to her chest, Frisk sat next to Flowey under the light that entered the Ruins, bombarding him with her endless questions. However, something was…

off. 

“Do you ever wonder if Mettaton separates from his body when he wants a break from his stardom?”

“No.” 

“You’re right. I doubt he minds the constant attention. Do you think it’s possible though?” 

“No.” 

“Right. Oh, by the way, this time around, I got to set up Burgerpants with Bratty and Catty at the MTT resort restaurant. Turns out, it was _way_ better than the dump. It took some convincing though. They really _do_ only go if there’s garbage involved.” She chuckled. 

Flowey didn’t answer. 

“And also, I finally got to watch Season 2 of Mew Mew with Alphys for the 30th time and noticed that —” 

“Okay, enough with the useless chit chat. What are you really here for?” 

Frisk stopped. Flowey watched the smile on her face fade slowly as she brought her gaze to her knees. 

Her silence afterwards was akin to a mixtape being paused — abrupt, unnatural, leaving the room empty.

Shoulders slumped, hair covering her eyes, she sighed.

“Do you want to come with us to the surface?” 

Flowey stiffened. “ _What?_ ”

He suddenly felt really nervous. And _really_ hostile. 

“Okay, hear me out.” She must have sensed that, because she quickly got to her feet. “I know that you told me you can’t go back, but I thought long and hard about it the entire night. Before you start calling me an idiot, please let me explain.”

She took a step towards him. Flowey bent back.

Frisk tried giving him the kindest gaze she could offer him. “I’ve already talked with Toriel about it, and, though she was a bit...uh, dicey about it at first, I eventually got her to agree.” 

She reached over to her items, and Flowey felt himself go numb at the sight of an empty flower pot in her hands, being _offered_ to him. 

“You can live with us on the surface, Flowey,” she said, smiling. 

Flowey was unable to respond, eye twitching at how appalled he was by the idea. 

“I know that...it must be very overwhelming for you, and I understand that I’m pushing my boundaries by doing this...” Her fingers curled around the flower pot. “But you don’t really want to stay down here forever, do you? I just want...to give you the chance not to. So, how about it?” 

Flowey shuddered, thrashing violently in place. Stifled growls came as his stem contorted rigidly trying to contain a surge of violent tendencies he wanted to act on. 

Was it really _him_ that _someone_ had to tell to _back off?_

“Okay, _look._ ” Slapping his leaves on the ground, he forced himself to smile, but it felt more like a sneer. “I can’t _feel_ anything. You know what that means?”

“Yes, but—”

“It means I will _never_ care about who I end up hurting. Do you get it?” 

“I know that, but—” 

“Take me anywhere you want, there is _nothing_ you can do to save me.” 

“It’s not that I—”

“I already told you that it’ll be useless and a waste of time!” He finally yelled. “You either drop this conversation now or _go away_!” 

“Flowey, just listen and—"

A sharp pain smacked straight into her shoulder. And the same time the flower pot shattered on the ground, Frisk fell to her knees. 

She hissed, pressing her fingers to her new wound. The pellet that Flowey shot her with fell to the ground. Her eyes followed the red patches of blood that formed on her sweater, down to the red that streamed down her fingers, dropping next to the broken pieces of ground and ceramic. Frisk lifted her gaze to his again. Flowey was undeniably angry, but he also looked…

annoyed at himself. 

“I told you that my memory of compassion would keep me from my usual tendencies,” he said, “but that doesn’t mean I’ll hesitate to put you to your place when you get on my nerves.” 

Frisk looked at him, golden eyes begging, but Flowey glowered back.

“Now, if you don’t have anything better to do, then get out of my sight. This is your last warning,” he said, frown deepening. 

Frisk clutched onto her wound. Flowey watched her carefully. Although her knees shook, she managed to get up, pulling out a Cinnamon bun.

**_YOUR HP MAXED OUT._ **

Frisk released her fully healed shoulder. Taking a deep breath, her gaze softened.

“Then tell me how I can help you."

The words made Flowey's head snap up, his glare dropping.

“I’ve been doing this for more times than I can count. But I can never seem to figure out how to help you. I’ve tried and tried again.” Something about the way she said those words told Flowey they held a different weight. 

“So right now, let me hear it from you. How can I help you?” Frisk asked, a fierce desperation in her eyes, despite the quietness in the way she spoke. 

But Flowey only wanted to scream at her anything synonymous to ‘ _NO!_ ’.

_You CAN’T help me!_

_No, there’s no way_ **_anyone_ ** _can._

_I’ve already accepted this. Just make her go away._

_Just make her go away._

“I believe…”

She jolted him out of his trance. 

“That even the worst person can change,” she said. “That anyone can be a good person if they tried.”

Frisk locked her gaze to his. “And Flowey…I _promise_ that I believe you can be a good person.”

 _Stop SAYING that!_ he wanted to scream. _No one can fix this! No one who tried ever could!_

He had to get her to scramble away and fast, before he could allow himself to delve into these thoughts more than he should.

Then, beyond her, his eyes caught something.

When she felt his hostility spike out of nowhere, Frisk tried to reach for him. “Flow -” 

She gasped, jumping out of the way when a rain of pellets came after her. 

“What the—” Frisk stumbled back. Though unscathed, she was still on edge. “Flowey?!” 

“So it was in your plan to get my guard down and let _that trashbag_ have his way with me, huh?!” 

Frisk drew a sharp breath and turned around. There was a figure behind the pillar — where two bright pinpricks bore into them, the left emanating a faint electric blue light. 

“Sans!” Frisk stilled. 

The skeleton quietly stepped out of the shadows, but the atmosphere around him brought them nothing but unease.

“so,” Sans’ grinned blackly at Frisk. “ _places to go, huh_?”

Frisk swallowed. His pinpricks were like daggers to her throat, keeping her voice stuck in it.

Sans then switched his glare to Flowey. “i should have kept in mind that flowers didn’t have ears for listening.” 

“You’re not one to talk, smiley trashbag.” Flowey challenged his eyes with his own. 

Frisk put an arm in front of Flowey. “Sans, before you assume anything, let me explain. Just don’t hurt him.” 

Flowey growled. “No one said you could be my meat shield, you _worthless_ human!” 

“back away from the flower, kid. it’s not him you should be worried about.” Sans narrowed his eyesockets.

Frisk shook her head and kept her arm up, letting herself be the sole barrier between them.

“I’m just trying to talk to him. Please, let me fix this.”

Phalanges forming into fists inside his jacket pocket, his smile hardened.

“look kid. i don’t want it to seem like i’m disregarding your efforts altogether here, but i heard talk about anyone being a good person. and, if i can be perfectly straight with ya? that flower’s chances are as good as _dust._ do you understand where i’m coming from?” 

“Sans…” Frisk pursed her lips.

“now back away, and no one needs to get hurt,” Sans said, like it was a conclusion. 

Frisk stepped forward. “Flowey can live with us on the surface!”

Sans stopped, looking at her like she had spoken an entirely different language just now. " _what? "_

“He can live with mom and me and when we all manage to adjust to life on the surface I _promise_ you that it will all be alright! We can live peacefully! No one needs to get hurt right now!” she yelled. As Flowey watched her, he had to wonder what could have motivated her to be this desperate now. 

For moments, Frisk's low, hitched breaths ebbing into the spaces was the only sound in the Ruins. Sans stood still, even as they steadied, leaving all between them silence and a plea that hung between Human, Monster, and freedom. 

Then, Sans’ cold laughter echoed in the room.

“heh heh heh…i’m sorry, but i really gotta ask,” he opened his eyes, and there was nothing but blackness that accompanied his grim smile.

“ **W h a t k i n d o f g a m e d o y o u t h i n k y o u ’ r e p l a y i n g h e r e,**

**h u h, k i d ?”**

Frisk flinched. The air that hung around them was now heavy with a tension that had her heart stammering against her ribcage. 

“You’re living in a fantasy if you think that **_that_ ** flower has _any_ chance of redeeming itself. You really think that in a flash of pretty words, it’ll _magically_ find compassion, _and_ the capacity to retract its vines from the people it wants to hurt?” 

With each word, the aura around him grew more and more ominous, as if to drown Frisk in it, render her unmoving. Even if she opened her mouth, he didn’t allow her to try.

“I _will not_ take my chances, kid. I have made many exceptions for you, but this is where I draw the line.” His smile disappeared. “You fought hard for a peaceful life on the surface, and you’ve gotten it. But while I can help it, I won’t let you ruin it yourself by letting this _murderer_ loose around us.” 

“We...we just have to try,” she said, but her voice was weak. 

Sans’ smile, more and more contemptuous, returned.

“be honest, kid,” he said, “will you really let us stay on the surface long enough for that to happen? because we've been doing this for way too long, and it's the only thing you never seem determined enough to do." 

Frisk drew a sharp breath, the color in her face vanishing as if the words itself caged her in ice.

“if it isn't gonna last long anyway, at the very least, could ya let us have some peace of mind before you drag us back to the bottom of the earth again?”

Frisk's gaze was low. Whatever will she had, any words to respond with — anything she thought she could give him — were lost. 

"so what's it gonna be, huh?" His smile had gone from cynical to sinister. "will you choose a future, or are you gonna keep playing with everyone until you get the ending you want but _just can't have_?"

“ ** _Here’s a better idea._ ** _”_ A hiss came from right next to Sans’ face. His eyesockets went wide. 

Vines wrapped around Sans’ arms and stuck them to his sides — violently, like Flowey had every intention of breaking his bones then and there. 

“You won’t _need_ to worry about the future.” Sans struggled, his curses muffled by Flowey’s solid grip as his vines crept inside, dangerously close to where his SOUL was housed.

“Because I’ll make sure that your future ends **_within the next_** **_few minutes_**!” Flowey’s fiendish laughter was the most piercing sound in the room. 

In several fast motions that left Frisk too stunned to move, Flowey had his vines wrapped all around Sans. He thrashed to get him off, wrapping himself around in magic. He teleported to every corner of the room, but Flowey latched onto him more and more tightly each time. Frisk called their names, shouted for them to stop, but they moved too fast — it was taking all her effort to whip her head around just to follow them.

As he continued to cackle, Flowey’s vines made it to Sans’ SOUL and grabbed it with his vines with all the force he had to crush it.

But as soon as Flowey came in contact with Sans’ SOUL, an immense sting of pain surged through both of them — like an electric shockwave slicing their heads. They both screamed. 

Gaster blasters fired, singing the walls. 

Bones and pellets flung around, flew into the pillars and cracks of the Ruins. 

Vines pulled, wrapped, and slammed against everything they could touch until the sound of breaking rocks thundered across the hollow. 

It was all Frisk could do to get out of the way of their unceasing attacks. Dodging every bone and pellet, rolling away from the blasts, jumping away from rocks, and healing herself until there was nothing left in her items to do so.

Flowey and Sans’ pained screams bounced off the walls with the cacophony of their magic blows as they tried to pull themselves off the other. It grated on Frisk’s ears, debilitating her like blood rushed out of her head, bringing her to her knees. The ground shook, rumbling with the rocks that fell around her. Frisk's hands came up to her ears and she shut her eyes tight. The blinking lights from blasters and the pounding forces that rattled her where she lay made nausea creep up her chest and terror twist in her stomach. 

So Frisk tried calling for help. 

But nobody was near enough to, so nobody came.

Cracks from breaking concrete and solid rock came. The Ruins were crumbling from the blows of the two most powerful Monsters in the Underground.

Frisk tried to call for the two of them again, until she saw her remaining 2HP.

In another desperate attempt, her bruised hands shaking, Frisk opened her menu. The load option was not available anymore. It never was after the barrier was broken and she cursed it. 

Then just above her, as she watched large boulders of debris fall towards her, she did what instinct told her to do.

A swipe of her hand, and she pressed the RESET button.

**9 9 9 9**


	2. Sticky Situation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> stupid doodoo butts

“Again?!” Alphys yelled to her computer screen. 

She had just finished the fine-tuning and monthly maintenance of the CORE to start her 909th watch of Mew Mew Kissy Cutie Season 1, when the alarm button went off again. 

“Ugh, what did the Royal guards do _this_ time?” Alphys set aside her bag of chips and remote controls on the couch as she trudged her way to the master command system.

Stepping downstairs, she blinked when she noticed the red light on her monitor flashing with the beat of the alarm. Something within the CORE was amiss. 

Squinting her eyes, Alphys opened the surveillance application — the one that had eyes on absolutely everything in the Underground. She paid attention to the screens that had sights on the CORE’s inner and outer areas, and tilted her head. Everything seemed perfectly normal.

“What in Mettaton’s metal rear tunnel…” 

Had her master control finally malfunctioned? Maybe it was because of that one time she spilled orange soda all over the motherboard. Then again, the CORE’s creator couldn’t have made the control system _that_ fragile. But if it _were_ some kind of glitch, then it would have been the first one ever. She’d have to figure out what was wrong from scratch. That meant canceling her marathon and putting human-watch on standby for the time being.

Alphys sighed. She had way too much to lose to actually start working. 

As she turned away to wait for the alarm to shut itself off, a series of crashes and shrieks echoed from the basement.

Alphys froze. Her eyes went to the elevator.

The deathly silence in the moments she stared had the scales of her skin hardening in fear. 

A shrill cry and another crash followed. This time, Alphys jumped. 

It was the Amalgamates, she realized. It sounded like they saw something inconceivably terrifying. 

Alphys hesitated, but knowing that no one else was going to help them, she took a deep breath and forced herself to have courage. Her own scientific curiosity would not allow her to ignore it, either way. 

Her meek feet pitter-pattered towards the elevator door. She stopped in front of it and swallowed, even as it had become silent beyond it once more. 

She pressed the button and it slid shut behind her, its sound reverberating through the empty halls.

* * *

_The Ruins_

Frisk woke up gasping, like she just dreamt of falling down, down, down. 

Her hand went to her chest as she tried to even her breathing. Slowly, she took in her surroundings. Sunlight poured from above, and under her were soft golden flowers. A sight all-too-familiar.

She sat up, wincing slightly, and looked around.

"Flowey? Sans?" Her voice echoed through the room. No one replied, though she should have expected it. Guess this only meant one thing. 

Frisk stretched, getting to her feet. She cracked her knuckles, her spine, her neck, and shook her shoulders. It was a little exercise she’d come to make a habit of after every RESET. After taking a breath, she opened up her menu and stats.

All seemed well until her eyes landed on something she found very, very strange.

Frisk's hand paused midair. She blinked once.

Twice.

Thrice...

She closed her options and opened them up again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

After one last attempt, Frisk lowered her hand.

"I'm a stupid doodoo butt."

* * *

“ow, what the…” 

Sans woke to the pain of his head throbbing. It felt as if he had a ketchup hangover, only the satisfaction of a wasted night was absent. Once his vision cleared and he managed to get a grasp of his surroundings, he realized he was…

Sitting on snow-covered ground, with his back against a tree. 

“no.” He shot to his feet. Though that made his head ache more, there was a matter that was even more pressing.

“no, no, _no_ …”

He could see snow as far as the path went, railed with bald trees reaching for the gray hue of light that he knew too well belonged to Snowdin and, for once, Sans felt the cold. 

He whipped his head to his right. At the end of the path was the doorway to the Ruins. It was still closed. 

As Sans' thoughts jumbled with the facts, he was barely able to register the grouchy moans from behind him. 

“Aaaugh…” Flowey pulled his stem from the snow, groggily, until he was able to take in his surroundings too. 

“Huh?” His eyes darted left and right, too shocked to even gasp. She _didn't_...

When he found the blue parka he’d grown disparagingly familiar with, the skeleton standing in the middle of the path, Flowey growled. “Look at what you’ve _done_!”

Sans kept still. 

“Thanks for getting in the way, _genius_ ! Congratulations on ruining your own happy ending cause—this one?—it isn’t on me! I hope you’re one _jolly skeleton_ now, _idiot!_ ” 

Sans stayed silent, but Flowey was unaware that every sound he made pushed Sans more and more to the brink of snapping. 

“Hey! Sicko! Did the last RESET just break your hearing or something?!”

Then Flowey noticed it — _I still have my memories._

He blinked rapidly. That’s not supposed to happen…

“no,” Sans chuckled, his eyesockets dark. Flowey set aside his thoughts for now and bared his teeth at the skeleton.

“heard ya _loud and clear,_ _buddy._ ” Sans stepped forward, his eye glowing. “and boy am i gonna enjoy hearing you _scream for mercy_ when i'm done with you."

Flowey hissed, his pellets at the ready to fling from behind him. If this trashbag wanted a fight then he was gonna get one. And if there was one thing he could be grateful for, Sans seemed to be with him on that. 

Flowey snarled and shot the first pellet. Sans stepped aside and threw three sets of bones towards him. Flowey bent back and shifted away, one swinging just a hair away from his stem. He shot three more pellets that Sans dodged without even needing to teleport. The smug look on his face made Flowey boil with anger and ready with more lines of pellets to shoot him with. 

But then one bounced off the nearest tree and hit Flowey smack in the face.

“OW!” Flowey fell back on the snow.

“ow—”

Sans would have laughed and thrown another bone, had it not felt like _he_ was the one who got hit like that. Browbones creasing, his phalanges went to his forehead, feeling the sting of pain right where Flowey got hit.

Flowey lifted his head, looking at Sans with the same question. 

...

Sans formed a smaller bone above his palm. 

“Wait, what’re you—”

He flung it towards Flowey. 

“AH!” His leaves went to where it hit his eye and bounced off his face. “You _repulsive mania—_ ”

Flowey stopped short when Sans grunted, his palm over his right eyesocket. Where Flowey felt pain too. 

His face scrunched. “...Are you for real?” 

Sans cursed under his breath. 

After a few more tests, with Flowey on the receiving end of most of them, it was easy for them to understand what was going on and they both hated it. 

“alright let’s make a deal for now,” Sans said, annoyed. “no trying to kill each other until frisk comes outta that door, _got it_?”

Abhorred by the idea of spending God knows how long in the presence of this _hunk of garbage,_ Flowey turned away from him. 

“Then she ought to have an _amazing_ explanation for this when she does."

* * *

Frisk hummed, hand under her chin as she looked between the two of them.

"this ever happened before?" Sans asked.

She shook her head. "Can't say it has."

“and you aren’t affected by it at all, right?” 

Frisk nodded. “I feel perfectly fine.”

"well, do you have a clue on how to fix this?" he asked, getting impatient. 

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but _please_?” Flowey's leaves went to his face. “I can't imagine a situation worse than this." 

Frisk hummed again, pressing her cheek to her fist, but then raised both her arms in a shrug. 

"Nope, sorry,” she said, frowning, “it’s a mystery to me just as much as it is to you." 

Flowey shoved his head into the snow and Sans' shoulders slumped in their disappointment.

Groaning loudly, Flowey lifted his head. With how heated the look he gave her was, the snow on his face would have melted.

“This is all _your_ fault!” he yelled, and was about to continue doing so until Frisk raised her finger.

"However," she said, "I may have read something in the Snowdin library and Waterfall about HP and SOULs, which could be the root of your problem, from what you’ve told me."

“we figured as much,” Sans said, sounding exhausted already. 

Frisk tried to reassure him with a smile. “Maybe we can find some clue to what’s with you guys written somewhere there. It’s worth looking into, right?”

Sans sighed at her attempt, but he gave her a small nod. Resigned, he decided it was best not to waste time. 

“aw well, if that’s how it is then we should head over to snowdin town now.” He turned around to begin making their way. Flowey, though still evidently irritated, just griped under his teeth as he went ahead to do the same. 

“Wait,” Frisk spoke up.

They both stopped and looked back to her. “What is it _now_?” Flowey said. 

“What about Papyrus’ puzzles? Gyftrot and all the decorations on his antlers? All the other Monsters? We can’t just go ahead and leave them the way they are.” 

“not to be your party’s pooper kiddo,” Sans faced her, “but we can deal with those later. i’ve got a _thorn_ on my side that i’d like to get rid of as soon as possible.” 

He gave a little side-glance to Flowey and the flower stuck his tongue out at him. 

“that being said, we can get to doing your happy ending _after_ we figure out how to fix this mess we’re in.” 

“But—"

“ _but_ nothing,” Sans said sharply. “sorry buddy, you’re not changing my mind on this one.” 

Flowey scoffed. “Hah! For once we’re on the same page. The less time I have to spend in the same space as this trashbag the better.” 

Frisk pouted. “Hey, I took long in the Ruins because I wanted to make sure all of us still got a happy ending this time around. I’d rather not stop now. We’re already at the starting point! So can you _please_ set aside your differences just a little so that we could get to the bottom of this _and_ save everyone from the Underground?” 

Flowey and Sans looked at each other for a brief moment.

“Pass,” Flowey said.

“no can do,” Sans concurred.

Frisk deadpanned at Sans, but he waved her off. 

“aw, don’t be that way, kid." He grinned. "papyrus and everyone else have been waiting for a human to fall down for a long time. it wouldn’t be too different if we did your whole run a little later. trust me, we’ll get to the whole saving thing in no time at all. in fact, i know a shortcut.” Sans winked at her. Frisk just raised her eyebrow, holding the same unimpressed stare. 

He cleared his throat and turned to the snowy path to try to ignore her, though he knew she continued to hold it in spite of that. He raised his thumb and index fingers. Behind him, Frisk crossed her arms and watched, tapping her foot. 

“hold on to your SOULs — you know, for the ones that have ‘em.” He glanced at Flowey. Sans’ grin widened when the flower growled back. 

“Just hurry up and let’s get moving, _bonehead!_ ”

Sans chuckled. “that wasn’t a very good one.”

Not wasting anymore time, he snapped his fingers, and the next thing they knew they were —

In the exact same spot they were standing in.

Sans’ smile fell. 

“Well? What’s the holdup? Thought you wanted to get this thing over with?” Flowey said.

Sans snapped his fingers again. Nothing.

“He- _llo?_ ”

“be quiet, would you?” Sans said sharply. The flower hissed back.

“What’s wrong?” Frisk approached him. 

“i…” Sans frowned, his browbones coming together trying to wrap his head around this difficult situation. Though, he didn’t need to try too hard to figure this one out. 

He sighed, shoving his hands down his pockets. “welp. looks like we’re going to have to stick to your plan after all, kiddo.” 

Frisk raised her eyebrows. “What happened?” 

“i think that this ‘sticky situation’ has affected my ability to teleport." He wasn't even worried in the slightest. Just really annoyed.

And Flowey looked more annoyed than he was. “Well, can’t you just get one of your blaster whatchamacallits that you love so much to zip us across the Underground in no time?” 

“thought about that, but that wouldn’t exactly give us our ideal results,” Sans said. “if we’re looking at the ‘get our bodies back to normal _and_ save everyone’ plan, it would be a bad move to travel in a conspicuous way — since if i’m seen around you two it’ll raise some questions to a certain fish lady.” 

“Who cares about her?!” Flowey yelled. “I’m sure the rest of the monsters would be too dense to think twice about us so we can just deal with her when we have to!”

“no, Undyne’s influence is strong enough to sway the entire Underground. someone tells her that we’re walking around like some tight-knit clique with a human and it’s game over. this timeline would flop. i’ve had my fair share of arguments with the captain of the royal guard, and honestly? not a coconut worth cracking.” Sans shrugged.

He looked at Frisk. “alright, your call. lead the way.” 

Frisk raised her fist and pulled it down with a cheer of “Yes!”

Flowey rolled his eyes. “Fine. But let’s start moving already! My stem’s getting cold from all this blabbering!”

Flowey even shuddered to make his point clear. Frisk crouched then, offering her arm to him. 

“Want to hang onto my sleeve, then? We can walk together before we meet up with Papyrus.” 

Flowey narrowed his eyes.

“Ow!” Frisk retracted her hand when he slapped it with a vine.

“Don’t get familiar. I _still_ think that all this is your fault.” He glared. “And I don’t need your pity!”

Frisk watched him burrow into the ground. A moment later, she heard his faraway yell to her right. 

“Well?” He had popped up several meters ahead. “We don’t have all day!” 

With the grumpy flower’s impatient waggling, Frisk sighed, rubbing the red mark on her hand, but managed a smile. She stood up and walked past Sans.

“Shall we?” she said, clearly still happy that she managed to get her way.

Sans was unimpressed. “yeah…”

He stood in his spot as he watched the flower and the human walk forward.

“You never complained about your stem being cold before,” Frisk said.

“Shut up!” Flowey shouted. Frisk giggled as he grumbled on.

Sans took one, heavy breath. His phalanges went to rub his temples before they went down to the rest of his face. If there was one thing Sans was sure of, it was that he _really_ wasn’t going to like what came next.

* * *

Under their feet, something cold and voracious stirred. Dark in every possible way. 

It led all the way back, deep inside the Ruins, where a black box hovered above a golden flower bed. It spasmed like a broken pixel game, struggling to keep itself at bay. 

_Crack_

From where it broke apart, black clung to all sides of the room with a loud _THWACK;_ a web of dark matter latching onto the walls like hands desperate to grab hold of something _._

A Froggit hopped nearby and briefly wondered what it was, until a shadow loomed over it. It knew then that it must get out of the room as fast as possible. 

In front of him, clear as day even under the ground, it knew it looked at a true _monster_.

But it was too late for him. As the dark being wrapped itself around the Froggit’s legs and was pulled towards it, a call for help was barely managed, as it was consumed whole.


	3. Getting to the bottom or top of this

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's all about 'sticking' together

_Snowdin Forest_

“YOU’RE SO LAZY!! YOU WERE NAPPING ALL NIGHT!”

“i think that’s called...sleeping.” 

“EXCUSES, EXCUSES!”

After they agreed to follow through with Frisk’s plan, they went ahead to fill their roles. 

Sans stood next to Papyrus, playing his part perfectly as Frisk faced all the puzzles with the enthusiasm of someone who’s seen them for the first time. Papyrus happily engaged in it. So far, nothing else was amiss. 

Flowey watched them from afar, behind the trees as Frisk feigned not knowing any better. It irked him, to say the least. He couldn't help thinking this was a waste of time. It wasn't objectively right, to fake it for the sake of someone else’s happiness. Soulless he may be, that wasn't beyond his understanding. 

In between puzzles, he noticed Sans and Frisk would chat, no longer about the usual, but about which books they should pick out in the library, and what other materials they could look at to find answers. As they proceeded through, Flowey noticed something off. 

_'What the heck is she doing?'_

“So what’s the name of _this_ puzzle — the _great_ Papyrus, right?” 

“YES, YES! THAT IS CORRECT!” Papyrus gleefully put a glove over his chest as he explained — in even more detail — the Invisible electric maze puzzle. 

Frisk was taking longer than usual. On top of that, she even made a lot of moves that were more useless than amusing. More than she would even if she _really_ didn’t know what was up. 

Sans continued to fill his role, but surely, he had noticed already. He just wasn’t saying anything. It made Flowey even more irritated he could no longer get behind it.

So before they got to the next puzzle, Flowey burst out of the snow next to them. 

"Hey! What's the big idea?" 

Frisk tilted her head. "What do you mean?"

"Don't act like you don't know, stupid! What's your deal and why're you taking so much longer than necessary?!" 

Sans looked at her too, begging the same question, though it didn't look like he minded as much.

Frisk shrugged. “I don’t want it to be like I’m just trying to get it over with. I want us to have actual fun, you know?”

Flowey scoffed. "Well, aren't _you_ just a sweet saint? Say what you want, but you're just fooling around with them! Would you get this timeline going already?! This is getting ridiculous!”

Frisk smiled at him. "You can always join us, Flowey." 

Flowey made a disgusted noise. "Puh- _lease_ ! Unlike both of you, I don't think toying around with useless Monster lives is something worth time _or_ energy! _You_ should have no problem with that though — everyone just _loves_ you, huh?!"

Before Sans could give any insult or sassy remark to that, Frisk took him by the shoulder. Flowey buried himself in the ground and hid away in his angry fit. 

Sans was about to proceed without a second thought until Frisk pulled on his sleeve. 

“That wasn’t the first time Flowey said something like that,” she answered when he asked. “Many times before, he gave those little hints.”

“hints of what, exactly?” Sans failed to sound like he really cared, but Frisk continued. 

“Flowey says a lot of...things. About many Monsters. He may not look happy all the time when he does but,” she grinned, like she was onto something. “I have a feeling–”

“– _i_ have a feeling i’m not gonna like what you’re about to say.” 

“That Flowey’s knack for talking about his excessive knowledge of everyone is because he just wants to be friends with them too.”

There was a long pause between the two of them. Frisk’s form slumped.

“...You’re smiling.” 

“it’s a pity smile.”

Frisk opened her mouth but Sans put his hand up. “trust me. the second what i know you're thinking comes out of your mouth, he'll throw a petty fit and tell you to leave him alone like the short-tempered spoiled brat he is."

* * *

Frisk learned later, when Flowey popped out to scream again after the word search puzzle, that sometimes she didn’t like it when Sans was right.

When she had tried to coax him into joining in with them, to maybe make this a bit more fun, as it turned out...

“They can be your friends too, Flowey. I can help them get to know you—”

" _Shut up_ ! I don’t wanna hear that from _you_ of all people! You can’t help me and there’s nothing _to_ help! So take your _worthless_ pity and shove it in your mouth cause I don’t _need it_!” Frisk took a step back at the threat of Flowey’s vines creeping from behind him. Standing right next to her, Sans’ grin grew bigger. 

He nudged her shoulder and raised his browbones. "what did i tell ya?" 

"Sans, you're not helping." Frisk deadpanned.

Flowey hid away again, farther away than earlier.

* * *

To say Flowey was having a bad time might just be the understatement of all the timelines. And that was a bold statement. 

Sometime in the middle of the multicolor tile puzzle, Sans started to pick on him by knocking on his own skull, leaving Flowey just shocked in his little corner every time he did. They figured out along the way that Sans' humiliating amount of HP had somehow been helped by the situation—likely _thanks to_ Flowey—and he learned to take advantage of that fast.

So Flowey started hitting his face on trees and cackled each time the skeleton grunted or his head jerked back. Harmless the damage may be, he made sure it was as annoying as him. 

Sans fought back by stubbing his own toe into a rock. And Flowey had no idea how, but somehow he _felt_ that and it just made him hate this even more. 

"WHAT HAS GOTTEN INTO YOU, SANS?” Papyrus finally asked when Sans stumbled back, holding his head. “IS THIS PUZZLE ALSO TOO MUCH FOR YOU?" 

“i wouldn't worry 'bout it br—” Sans winced. 

Where Flowey panted, his face dirtied with splinters of bark and pieces of snow, he snickered in triumph. 

Papyrus raised a browbone. “HAVE YOU BEEN INDULGING IN THOSE EXPIRED KETCHUP PACKETS GRILLBY’S FORCED YOU TO EAT EVER SINCE YOU GOT INTO DEBT?” 

"n-nah, paps i just really—" Sans winced again, then glared to the direction where Flowey was hidden, " _think that i should start bringing my_ **_garden knife_** _with me a lot more._ "

That just made Papyrus ask even more questions about the possible food poisoning he got that made his brother too kooky for his own good. 

All the while, Frisk stood there, unable to believe how impossibly immature they were, and slapped her face into her palm.

* * *

Right after they got through that puzzle and Papyrus went ahead, Sans made sure he and Frisk got far away enough from Flowey to have a talk.

"i can't believe i'm saying this but," Sans faced her seriously, "could you do me a huge favor and reset this timeline?"

Frisk's eyes widened.

"look, this sounds really weird, and really bad coming from me, i know. but my patience is being tested _very_ much, and we're not even in snowdin yet. a reset is a possibility i wasn't sure would give us good results, but i say let's give it a shot. what do you think?"

Frisk frowned, looking at her feet as she thought about it — her thoughts seemed to trouble her, though. Sans couldn't blame her. Even he knew he was pushing it with this request.

Then, Frisk lifted her head. "Sorry, Sans. I have to say no. I don't want to treat Flowey this way, either," 

She formed fists over her chest and smiled. “I really think this is the timeline where I can find a way to save him, too.”

He wasn't surprised by her answer, but her reason was what puzzled him, and couldn't pretend to accept. 

"okay, here’s what i am really _dying_ to know, alright kid?” 

He gave Frisk no chance to respond as he said, “even after he's tricked you, _murdered_ you, and all of us _thousands of times_ , you _still_ want to save him? kid, don’t tell me you pretend it never happened."

Frisk shook her head. "No, of course not."

"then _why_?"

Frisk giggled. "The thing is, believe it or not Sans, you and Flowey are alike."

" **e x c u s e m e**?" His eyesockets went pitch black. It was like his mind malfunctioned in that moment. 

"Mhm." She nodded, unfazed even with his sudden hostile aura. "You both like to keep things to yourself, so you push people away often. You never tell anyone anything, and you hide your true feelings. Flowey does so through...well...not so ideal ways, but you're both the same.”

“not sure where you plan on going with that notion of yours kid, but i don’t think i’m liking it,” Sans said through his teeth. 

“I don’t expect you to, but…this might sound really bad to you, but hear me out when I say it.” She took a deep breath. “I have hope for Flowey because I got to become friends with you."

At that, Sans was snapped out of his stupor.

"It may take a little longer...and I know it's not going to be easy for anybody, but I'm determined and hopeful that he can be saved too.” Frisk’s fingers curled around each other as she looked at him earnestly. "Flowey is also worth saving." 

A long pause came, as Sans stared back, searching for a lie or a hidden motive, and not finding any.

So he looked at the snow covering the tree branches instead. "heh. so you're gonna keep this junked timeline going so you can save some evil flower despite him being a homicidal maniac stuck to your friend, huh?"

Frisk shook her head again. "Flowey isn't evil, Sans,” she said, “he's just scared."

Sans faced her again, surprised not only by her words, but at how her head had gone low, and her shoulders slumped. 

"When people are scared, they often do bad things,” she said, like the words made her heart heavy. “But that doesn’t mean they’re bad."

Behind a tree, Flowey stilled upon hearing those words too. He had been listening the entire time, ready to call them out for their treachery. But now, somehow...he had lost the courage to show himself. 

Then, for a moment, he almost felt something. Flowey gulped, trying not to panic. _What?_

Shaking his head, he just knew he needed to go before this materialized into something that could be named. That was what he feared the most. So he burrowed deep into the snow, disappearing from sight. 

Sans was unable able to say anything for a while, but seeing the girl’s worry etched on her face, revealing anguish deeply rooted from a sincere heart that he could not deny. Sans frowned, and despite himself, deflated.

"alright kiddo,” he sighed. “you win. i'll...'stick' with the weed 'til we get to the bottom of this. Or top – whichever is more accurate to the ending you want." 

“Can you promise me that?” she asked. 

Startled by her question, Sans quickly glanced away. “kid, you know i –“

“Please?” She looked straight at him. And with eyes like that, so troubled and pleading, Sans couldn’t find it in himself to ignore her.

So he took a deep breath, and ready to face the weight of it, released it. 

“ok, fine. i promise.”

Frisk threw herself onto Sans, wrapping her arms around him. Though his ill feelings hadn't completely gone, Sans returned the gesture, and patted her head. 

“Thanks Sans." She pressed herself to him. “For everything." 

Sans pulled away, gave Frisk one look, and without warning, grabbed her cheeks.

“Ahwah – !”

"don't get cocky, alright buddy?” He grinned. “for this one, you owe me." 

"gw-gwot eh..."

* * *

Flowey grumbled all the way back to the Ruins — about things that involved smiley trashbags and nosy humans, how he absolutely hated everything, and just missed Chara.

So he decided to stay by his best friend's grave, like he always did when he wanted to sulk. It didn’t matter that he still had no idea what was going on, he really wanted to be away from the both of them. 

When he burrowed under and made it to the other side of the door, he was met with a silent hallway. Flowey paused. 

There were usually at least a few monsters just lurking about, or Toriel just loitering, but there was no one there. He moved forward, cautiously. The air was thick, yet hollow, making him shiver slightly. 

"Anyone home?" he said, "Whimsuns? Frogs? Spiders, even?"

But nobody came.

He hesitated, then tried, “T-…Tori –“

Flowey saw something dark move from the corner of his eye and jolted back. 

But there was nothing…

Every fiber in his soulless being told him that he needed to run as soon as he saw the chance, but he’d rather not start 'cowering away'. Flowey was in no mood for this.

"Alright, whatever you are, I'm not feeling up to it at the moment. You either come out or I _make you_." 

His face contorted to his most threatening one, teeth baring. Still nothing. 

Flowey then couldn’t deny something was truly wrong. He wanted to leave. Right away.

_Plop_

Just as he turned to do so, something landed right next to him. It was like a black goop of sorts, but it spasmed like a worm. Like something alive. 

Flowey bent back when it began its way towards him. He slapped it away with a vine, but it clasped itself on it. 

He yelped, frantically shaking his vine before flinging it to the shadows of the dark hallway. 

When he saw it crawling back over to him, Flowey gulped. Fear ringing louder in his ears, he still couldn't help but look up to see wherever that came from.

He froze at the sight.

A black, misshapen creature had latched onto the ceiling. It growled and snarled in a collection of voices that came hauntingly, the sound itself enough for him to feel cold.

And it was looking straight at him with chilling, white lights — were those its _eyes_?

Flowey had no idea what it was, but he was sure of one thing: he was peering into the eyes of a monster. A _real_ monster — the kind he would shiver at the thought of as a child wrapped in blankets, alone in a dark, dark room. 

Part of it split, opening into what looked like an endless fissure — it had a _mouth_ too?! — and it released a roar that made the Ruins shake. It pushed itself from the walls towards Flowey.

“AH—!” Flowey burrowed to the ground for his life. 

The ground made a crater where the monster landed. It roared again, towards the door of the Ruins where Flowey had run beyond.

Flowey could hear it behind him, out of his senses, as he did everything to get far as fast as possible.

Behind the door, the monster still did not rest. It violently pounded on the ground, digging down in pursuit.

Flowey couldn't look back. He'd been around here for a long time, but he had no idea what he was dealing with. All that mattered was that he needed to get back to Sans and Frisk.


	4. Crazy Impossible

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "This is a lot for my head..."

After completing all the puzzles, Frisk and Sans noticed that Flowey missing and decided to follow the path back to the Ruins to look for him, knowing it was the only place he could possibly be. 

Frisk was evidently worried, while Sans tried to hide his aggravation — if the flower did anything like throw himself into some fire just to spite him then it was _really_ asking for a terrible time. He hated going through the trouble just for the weed and hated even more that he _needed_ to find him to be sure of his own life in this timeline. He honestly just hated this timeline and would grumble more about it, but that would make him like Flowey. He still wanted to deny he was anything like the flower. 

“Don’t worry, Sans,” Frisk said. Sans looked at her — it seemed she could guess what he was thinking.

“I don’t think Flowey would do anything reckless. If there’s anything he relatively values, it’s his survival. I wouldn’t think he’d risk another RESET if he wasn’t sure it was going to fix your problem.”

And it didn’t make Sans feel better that the kid would defend him every now and then. Since when did they get so friendly with one another, anyway?

Sans chuckled dryly. “’relatively’, huh? i’ll try to find comfort in that. but he isn’t really being the sweetest of _buttercups_ right now if you know what i’m sayin’.” 

Frisk hummed. “He might have just wanted to be alone. I mean, _you_ weren’t exactly the jolliest of skeletons after what just happened. You even asked me to RESET.” 

“touché.” Sans inhaled — that was sassy of her. He huffed. “but all this trouble we’re going through right now is all because he can’t get _clover_ it.”

Frisk sighed. “Anyway, it’s a good thing you were able to convince Papyrus to pick out some books for us before we left.” 

The change in subject was welcomed. “papyrus would agree to anything you say would get him to his dream of becoming part of the royal guard.”

“Learning any book with the words ‘SOUL’, ‘HP, and ‘determination’, huh? That was really smart. What do you want to know about determination, though?”

Sans paused and mulled over what to tell her. “kid…was there ever a time when your determination was strong enough to achieve the impossible? that it allowed you to break all the rules of the physical world?”

Frisk seemed to hesitate, gaze lowering. Sans continued to look at her though, and would not cease to until she answered his question.

“Many times before,” she started weakly, “my SOUL refused to die, even when I had absolutely no HP left.”

She met his eyes. “I think my determination was what stopped that from happening. Each time I refused, I got enough HP to do something.”

Sans nodded. “from what you told me, the weed was the product of a determination experiment.”

“Mhm.” 

“so, his existence is supposed to rely on determination alone. but somehow, he relies on HP like everybody else. a being without a SOUL shouldn't be able to, cuz we only really get damaged through our SOULs,” he said. “now i’m thinking, what if the whole ‘soulless’ shindig is a lie, and he actually has some form of incomplete one, that had _only_ determination?”

Frisk blinked. “I’m listening.”

“so, my best guess is, after his stunt in the previous timeline, that incomplete SOUL latched onto mine somehow. i’m not all over details right now, but i’m assuming that the main deal is the weed and i are now, for lack of a better term, ‘sharing’ a soul.”

Bringing her fist to her lips, Frisk’s brows crinkled. “That…sounds…” 

“crazy impossible. but, so is your determination’s ability to bring you back to life. i don’t have all the literature to back it yet, but i’m gonna kick off from the presumption that it was the weed’s determination that did all of this. it probably allowed me to have clear memories of the previous timeline, and is the reason why he and i haven’t kicked the bucket yet.”

Frisk's hands went to her temples. “This is a lot for my head…” 

He chuckled. “you’ll manage to get around to it. even if you don’t, that’s fine too. we can just roll with our punches until your next RESET.”

“Wait, wait, wait,” she stretched her hands out. “So if you’re right and you two are sharing a SOUL, and Flowey’s only has determination, how are you still not…you know…” 

Sans got what she implied and shrugged. “beats me. that’s why i’m gonna need those books.”

“Right, right,” she said, still trying to wrap her mind around it. 

“in the meantime, let’s just find that weed and hope he didn’t screw anything up.” He walked ahead.

Frisk struggled with the logic Sans presented to her. While she _had_ been in the Underground for a while now, all this SOUL business had never been too clear. First off, determination alone? An incomplete soul?

Then something became clear to her. It _was_ possible that determination brought him to life. A Monster’s body and SOUL are one. Since a Monster’s dust is technically its SOUL in the physical world, it made sense. After all, Flowey was…

Something struck Frisk then. _How did Sans get the idea of Flowey somehow having a soul?_

She was just about to ask until right in front of her, something popped out of the ground.

“Flowey!” Frisk exclaimed — delighted to finally find him, but he didn’t return the gesture. 

“Run!” he yelled. He looked like someone threatened to put him through a lawnmower.

In front of her, Sans turned around.

“what’s gotten your leaves in a twist?” 

“There’s—! There’s something—!” Flowey looked so frazzled Frisk hesitated to ask what happened. 

Then the snow beneath them began to quake.

Sans’ eyesockets widened as he stared at the shaking ground. He scanned the area for the source. Frisk did the same. Both of them snapped their heads in all directions, but Flowey only kept his eyes to the ground beneath him, ready to belt a scream.

A muffled roar came from under the snow, and finally Sans and Frisk’s eyes were on it.

Flowey shrieked. Without thinking, he uprooted himself and latched onto Frisk.

“Wah–!” She stumbled.

“Run! Just go before–!”

A cloud of snow exploded from beneath them, with a force strong enough to fling Flowey and Frisk far back into the path they had come from. They yelped, Frisk’s coming choked, as Flowey held tightly to her torso. They flew until Frisk’s back hit a tree. She coughed at the force, hacking for breath.

Sans had quickly dug bones into the ground for him to hold on to. He struggled to get a look at what came out, the wind and snow still blowing, as his left eye glowed with electric blue light.

The snow settled, and all three of them froze.

No bigger than the trees around, but as black and as bleak, a spine-chilling sight, the misshapen monster craned itself to the sky and bellowed.

“What the hell…” Sans muttered. Though his left eye still glowed, the fury it had had been deterred.

The monster had him in his sights. 

Sans snapped out of it and raised his arm. Two gaster blasters appeared above the beast. Fisting his hand, he let them rip out their fire at full force. It shrieked in terrible, high and low tones.

Sans swung his other arm up and a line of bones stabbed through the creature from below. Black droplets splattered onto the surrounding trees and snow. It howled again, but it seemed more from indignation rather than pain. 

As it continued to make its way towards him, Sans was desperate to figure out how to end this thing and _fast._

Two gaster blasters appeared on both of his sides and fired at it before it could get any closer. Sans made a barrage of bones surround it and let all of them rip through the monster’s body – rapidly, remorselessly. Painful cries pierced through their ears with every hit. Sans did not stop calling down his attacks until the snow all around them smoked, covering the creature in mist.

Sans drew his hands back. Sweat beaded down his head as he panted.

When the smoke and snow cleared though, Sans felt cold in his soul.

Its cold white pin-like gaze peered at him. All the bones he used to attack protruded from it, but it did nothing.

Sans took a step back, his left eye flickering until his pinpricks returned to normal. He gulped.

 _‘I can’t beat THAT…_ ’ 

Its deafening roar nearly blew Sans away as the monster made a move to grab him. Sans jumped and dodged. His left eye lighting up again, he called out one of his gaster blasters, got his feet on it, and flew past the creature towards Flowey and Frisk.

The two had already gotten to their feet, still gaping at the monster, until Sans zipped across and grabbed the two of them.

Behind them, they heard branches break, as it chased after them.

“Where are we going?!” Frisk yelled past the wind blowing through their ears.

“let’s start with _away from here?”_ Sans tried to get the blaster to fly faster.

“We can’t let that thing make it to Snowdin!” 

Flowey dared to look back a moment and witnessed a tree get broken in half. “Well if you can come up with a way we can do that you better come up with it _now!_ ”

The bottom of the blaster got caught on a large branch, and they lost balance.

“AH!”

Frisk dove. “Flowey!” 

She caught his stem before he could fall off. Flowey choked. Oh how badly he wanted to scream at her right now.

Half of Frisk’s body hung from the edge of the blaster, and she would have screamed, but her eyes caught something ahead of them, and she got an idea. 

“kid!” With a flex of his arm he inclined the blaster, letting them tumble back onto it. 

Frisk got up. “Down there!”

Sans looked to where Frisk pointed, and his eyesockets widened — it was Papyrus’ tile puzzle.

Putting the pieces together in his head, he blinked. “that’ll do.” 

Setting them down to the side of the puzzle as far away from the monster as possible, Sans quickly went to work to reconfigure the machine.

Frisk and Flowey slid down from the blaster.

“Faster, trashbag! _Faster!”_ Flowey yelled. Sans ignored him. 

Frisk kept her eyes on the horrific sight. It ripped through trees and crawled on snow, without stopping getting closer — its sights keen on _them_. 

“Sans!” she cried.

“just gimme a sec!” His hands and phalanges had never had to move so fast under so much pressure in such a long time. 

Flowey and Frisk stepped back — farther and farther away the closer that thing got.

Frisk swallowed. “Saaaans...” 

“c’mon, c’mon…” He sweat as he muttered and rearranged the wires.

When it got to the edge of the puzzle and reached for her friend, Frisk screamed,

 _“_ _SANS!”_

Large vines grabbed hold of it from below and pushed it flat onto the puzzle. It shrieked, writhing against its tight wrap. 

Sans looked at Flowey, but the flower had his eyes shut tight — didn’t look like he could hold the attack too long.

“Don’t look at _me_ , trashbag!” he yelled through gritted teeth. “The second you feel that pain _I_ feel that pain! Now are you gonna get that machine working or what?!” 

Sans turned back and did the final touches. No second was wasted to push the button that would activate the puzzle.

Stepping back, Sans watched as the pink and red tiles burst into a flashy arrangement of colors, the patterns changing faster, until all tiles glowed white.

Flowey let go of the monster with a grunt and flew back before the puzzle exploded.

The creature screeched as the ground beneath it crumbled. Its deformed body getting caught in between cracks and under the rocks, in one last attempt it tried to reach over to their side. 

Sans wrapped it around blue magic — stopping it completely. 

He growled as he swung his hand, and dragged it down as its last cry fell into the blackness below them.

Sans blocked the hole with a wall of bones, and the three of them high-tailed it as far from there as possible.

* * *

They were all out of breath by the time they made it across the long bridge. 

Sans, still unwilling to take his chances, blocked the canyon below the bridge with another barrier of bones. He rested his hand on a tree, sweat dripping from his skull. He was spent, for sure. There was no way he could use any magic any time soon.

Frisk’s knees fell on the snow, still trembling. Flowey looked just as drained, his stem bent low enough his face nearly touched the ground.

“What,” Frisk struggled to regain her breath, “was _that_?”

Sans’ left eye flickered until it was back to normal. He looked back to where they trapped it, still wary and uncertain if that really did do the trick on it, though he had a really strong feeling that they didn’t. 

He turned to Flowey — who, for a flower, looked considerably pale, leaves still shaking in fear. 

Sans grinned — but it was nothing near a friendly one.

“Wah—!” Pulled out of the snow, Flowey came face to face with Sans’ dark eyesockets.

“Sans!” Frisk shot to her feet.

“where the hell have _you_ been?” Sans said.

Flowey stuttered, still unable to form a coherent word, but Sans was in no mood to be considerate.

“and where did that _thing_ come from, huh?”

This time, Flowey glowered at him. “I was hoping you were smart enough not to assume that _I_ was the one that was responsible for that freakshow, fat-face! If I wanted us dead, I would have shot myself down hours ago!” 

“well _it_ followed _you,_ and you led it straight to us. now, _answer me_ **.** ” He squeezed his stem tighter. Flowey choked and tried to pry his grip away.

“Like I know where the hell it came from!” Flowey gagged. “All I know is that when I came back to the Ruins that— _whatever it was—_ just popped out of nowhere and attacked me!”

“It came from the Ruins?” 

Flowey and Sans turned. Frisk stood still, looking like all the life had been sucked right out of her. “What happened to everyone? Are they alright? W-what about m-mom?” 

Her voice shook. It was as if she was going to fall back to her knees any second. “P-Please don’t tell me they’re…” 

Before Flowey could respond, Sans dropped him back to the ground—“Ah!"—and stepped towards her. 

“kid, you no longer have a choice. you _have_ to RESET this timeline.” 

“But, I…” her eyes darted everywhere. Sans wasn’t about to leave any room for more arguments.

“we don’t even know if that thing is gone for good, and we can’t risk letting it attack the rest of the Underground. this timeline _can’t_ continue.” His tone became more harsh with each word.

Frisk stepped back. “B-b-but we don’t even _know_ what t-that is -”

“it doesn’t matter right now!” he snapped. “just _what_ are you still waiting for?” 

“Sans, I _can’t_!” she screamed. 

Sans and Flowey stiffened, eyes wide. It was as if at that moment, everything around them froze.

Frisk deflated, her head low. “Look…” 

She opened her menu and displayed her options in front of the two of them.

“You two weren’t the only ones that ran into a problem in the beginning of the timeline…” 

Immediately, their eyes caught the rectangular black box on the bottom right. It looked deep like an abyss, like something once belonged there and filled a purpose. Now, it was empty.

“It was grayed out and glitched the moment I opened it up…and no matter what I did, I couldn’t get it to work,” she said. “When I tried opening my menu before going through the door inside, it displayed an ERROR message.” 

She sighed, her fingers lacing together behind her. “I didn’t know what to do, so I left it in the Ruins...” 

Met with only silence, Frisk crouched, hugging her knees. “It wasn’t that I wanted to hide it from you…I just…”

She remembered looking at the mirror in the Ruins, expecting another face, but it didn’t come.

“Now knowing there’s no longer an option to fix my mistakes, I didn’t know what the best course of action to take was… All I knew was that...” 

She meagerly lifted her head, determination glazing through her eyes for just a second. “This was my last shot. It’s my last shot and I don’t want to ruin it. But now…” She fell silent, now fully curled up into a ball.

The other two stood still, at a complete loss. It now made sense to them why she took longer than necessary — why she was so set on ensuring the Monsters' happiness — but the reality of their situation came crashing down on them as if the sky had become the weight on their shoulders.

“so when you told me no…” Sans said, voice low.

Frisk avoided his eyes. “It wasn’t the only reason, but I still meant every word of it.”

Sans snorted at her reply. 

“If I told you from the start, would you have listened to me in the first place?”

Sans just turned his back to her, hands shoved into his pockets, and his eyesockets dark.

“I know you’re mad,” she said softly, and got to her feet. “but I wouldn’t have hidden it from you if I knew you were going to let me use this chance to finally make everything right!”

There was no anger, only the desperation to get him to understand.

“‘right’? ok, let me stop you there.” But Sans did not take kindly to that, and glared. “all of _this_ only happened because you couldn’t be satisfied with the ending you already got!” 

“But I didn’t _want_ to RESET the last timeline! Honest! It’s just that—” 

“Well, it’s too late!” he snapped. Frisk flinched. “Now there’s no chance of getting a better ending! Not when that _thing_ has already eaten up every single Monster in the Ruins!”

Frisk gaped at Sans, her words stuck in her throat, looking like she was about to cry. Noticing it, Flowey decided to interject.

“Actually, no it didn’t,” he said.

Sans and Frisk whipped their heads to him.

“Nobody came when I called, but I know how many Monsters live in the Ruins. I didn’t sense anyone missing. All the SOULs are still there.” 

Flowey looked at Frisk. “Even Toriel’s.” 

He was aloof when he said it, but it held all that mattered to Frisk. It felt like she could breathe again.

Sans’ browbones creased. “then why did it act like it wanted to _kill_ us?” 

“Heck if I know!” Flowey snapped, back to his usual snark. “But no Monster SOUL disappeared while it ran after us, either!”

Sans blinked. “you’re serious?”

Flowey’s expression told them that if he had actual arms, he would have strangled Sans. “As if I’d make a joke about this now! My humor isn’t as badly timed as _yours_!”

Sans thought for a while. Flowey must have burrowed under to run away from it. That thing came out from the ground when Flowey clung to Frisk. It followed _Flowey’s_ trail. And it only followed the three’s trail on the way. It attacked Sans, but didn’t bother attacking all the other Monsters that _must_ have witnessed it on their way here. 

Sans’ eyesockets went wide. “it’s only after us.”

“Then that could only mean,” Frisk said, “whatever that thing was, it’s because of what happened in the last timeline. Because all of this has only ever happened now!”

Frisk’s eyes gleamed for a moment and she seemed to regain her determination. 

“There’s still a chance!” She jumped. Her earlier gloom disappeared in a snap; she now looked more than ready to go on an adventure.

Sans and Flowey briefly exchanged glances, then deadpanned at her. 

“Now, we don’t have a choice!” she exclaimed. “If we can find out how to fix our problems then we might find answers to a whole lot of other things too! What do you two say?” 

She held out her hand to them. She practically exuded with determination, and it may have been the reason she failed to notice this wasn’t returned. “Will you join me in this last chance to SAVE everyone, once and for all?” 

“not so fast.” Her SOUL turned blue, and knowing what was coming her eyes widened. Frisk was been pulled towards Sans, flipped upside down and forced to come eye-to-eye with him.

“don’t think you’re off the hook yet, pal,” he said. “we got lucky this time around, but don’t think your winning streak’s gonna go on for too long. consequences are gonna come sooner or later. but for you, buddy? it’s the former.”

Frisk gulped. Sans smirked upon seeing that. 

“you want to SAVE everyone? well, you can start by making sure your inability to RESET is the last thing you’re gonna lie about. so make sure you never keep anything important like that ever again, because i _can_ and **_will_** find out eventually, and i don’t wanna deal with the repercussions of a bad decision just as much as you. got it?”

She nodded twice and opened her mouth, but he held up a finger.

“ _and,_ in return for my cooperation for the various things you want, you’re gonna ensure papyrus has the best date in all the timelines we’ve ever had.” 

He closed his right eye, so that he smiled at her with his glowing blue one. It was an arrangement just as much as it was a threat. “Do we have a deal?” 

Frisk nodded, resolute. “Deal. AH—!” 

Flowey jerked out of the way when Sans dropped her on the ground. Frisk spit out some snow when she sat back up. 

Sans winked at her unimpressed stare, showing her his right eye. “then you _snow_ the drill.” 

Flowey gagged, but Frisk couldn’t help but smile back. 


	5. ERROR

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “So we’re finally down to our last RESET…”

_Snowdin town_

After they had come to an agreement, Sans told them he would try his hand at investigating whatever had attacked them. He explained that he didn’t want to take his chances by simply running away, so no matter what, he _had_ to make time to investigate what it was.

On the way, he checked to see if any Monsters really were unharmed. Upon noticing the dog guards, Ice caps, and Snowdrakes huddled in groups talking about what the hell they just saw, Sans was appeased. Some of them looked scared out of their wits, but all were accounted for — turned out the flower didn't lie. 

He went ahead to get his sample from where they were attacked first. Apparently the particles that splattered out of it didn't disappear, so he took the little blobs into a tube and hid away in his basement for the time being. 

Meanwhile, Frisk waited for Papyrus in the usual place, with Flowey lurking nearby. Sans had told them that it was okay for her to go with her plan, but he clarified, _passive-aggressively,_ that she had to speed it up. Frisk complied.

Papyrus was still nowhere to be found — probably still reading up on those books. Flowey peaked his head out from the tree, eyes darting about, ensuring the coast was clear so he could finally say what was on his mind.

He sprung out of the ground next to Frisk. "Psst! Hey!" 

Once Frisk turned to him, he said, "Let's skedaddle to New Home while the trashbag's busy and get this over with!"

Her brows came together. "You mean just...go and break the barrier?"

"Exactly that! We know where the six SOULs are so we just need to figure out a way to lure everyone close enough and I can go ahead to—"

"Flowey, that won't do." Frisk pouted, shaking her head. "Asgore has plans to go to war with the humans. We can't just leave things the way they are." 

Flowey's face twisted in confusion. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “I don’t get it. You have any idea what we're dealing with?! On top of it all, you lost the _RESET button_ ! Why aren't you _freaking out?!_ ”

“I did at first,” Frisk defended. “And don’t get me wrong, I am still really worried. But then, I just thought, even if having one last shot _is_ really scary…” A small smile made it to her lips. “Not too sure why, but I got excited at the same time.” 

Flowey grimaced. And he thought he’d met enough weirdos in his miserable lifetime. 

“It’ll be fine, Flowey,” she assured. “Sans is really smart so I’m positive he’ll be able to figure something out. And I know this like a game of tic-tac-toe against a toddler. Monsters were always easier to talk to than humans ever were. We should at least have our side in good peace before we make it up there.” 

Flowey could no longer keep from growling. “Oh, _please_!” He raised his leaves vehemently. “And so what if the Humans and Monsters go to war?! They deserve it after what they did to us anyway!”

Frisk frowned. “You don’t really think that.” 

“And what makes you think _you_ know that?!” 

Frisk continued to stare at him. 

Flowey’s eyes widened. “No. Don’t you _dare—_ ”

“Flowey—” 

“You know what?! Forget it!” He turned to leave. “If you’re just gonna keep us here forever, then you should never have bothered trying to save anyone from the very beginning!” 

“Flowey!” Frisk called, but he continued to go farther. Frisk pursed her lips, but she would not let him get away. Mustering her courage, she yelled, 

"Asriel!"

Flowey stopped. 

○ ○ ○ ○ ○

○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○

Frisk whirled her head around when whirring noises came from behind her. Panicked, she rolled forward before the seed bullets shot at her. 

Not even given a moment’s respite, Flowey wrapped her in his vines and slammed her back against the nearest tree. Frisk flinched, choking on her own cry of pain.

“Don’t call me,” his grip tightened, face twisting to his most terrifying, malevolent one yet, “by **_THAT_ **name!”

“HUMAN?”

Flowey and Frisk turned, the former losing his glare when they saw Papyrus standing a few feet away. The skeleton Monster looked between the two for a few moments, then broke into a grin. 

“OH! I SEE YOU’VE MET MY FRIEND, THE FLOWER!” 

In which, after a series of spontaneous explanations and silent, grudgeful agreements, both Flowey and Frisk ended up dating Papyrus.

* * *

"so, what kept you two?" 

Frisk and Flowey exchanged a look. Flowey looked away and Frisk smiled sheepishly. Seeing as they weren't going to respond, Sans decided maybe it was best he didn't find out. 

After a few things were exchanged, Sans got to the point. 

“alright, children,” he turned in his rolling chair, “how much do you know about cell biology?” 

"..." 

“I’m twelve, so…” 

“right, okay. i’ll lay it out simply for you. do you know what an immune system is?”

“Uhm…more or less? I’m familiar with basic body systems. It’s the thing that helps keep the body from getting sick, right?” 

Sans nodded. “monsters are inexperienced with illness, so they don’t have one. the closest thing we have to a sickness is the term ‘fallen down’. it’s a monster that’s about to perish. there’s no way to reverse that state.” 

“Oh! I read about that in the true lab!” Frisk exclaimed.

He nodded again. “when i used to work there, we observed that black particles were responsible for some of these monster’s eventual final _dust-_ ination.” He winked. He got a brief chuckle from Frisk and a shudder from Flowey. 

“it isn’t normal for a monster to be in a prolonged period of between ‘dead and not dead’. you’re either alive or dust. this phenomenon usually only happens when they feel too strongly against their own demise. monsters normally live longer lives compared to humans, so most don’t mind as much, but everybody’s different," he said, shrugging. "anyway, we found these black particles on the ‘fallen down’ and observed how they ate away at ‘em until they turned to dust, like they’re supposed to. because of their appearance and behavior, we called them ‘mavrocytes’.”

Flowey stretched his stem over his work desk, and looked at Sans’ notes on his earlier tests. “So is that what we’re dealing with? 

"yeah. and it's a huge one." 

Frisk joined Flowey to try and get something out of the notes too. “And it’s after us because?” 

“because i think we, dear human,” he gestured to Flowey with his pinpricks, “are the errors it wants to get rid of.”

He talked to them about his earlier tests. To see what would happen to other Monsters, he got a bone sample from Papyrus (he really needed to know if his brother was safe) and a fur sample from the bunny Monster that Frisk got when she regained HP in the Inn. The other samples were a bone sample from himself, a hair strand from Frisk, and a leaf from Flowey (which Sans plucked by force). He explained how the sample consumed Papyrus’ and the shopkeeper’s sample, but spit it out very soon. So he assured that while it may not stop attacking monsters, it won't do any real harm to them. 

When it came to his and Flowey's samples, they weren’t spit out. 

"you, however," he pointed to her with a pen, "are a mystery." 

Frisk raised her eyebrows. "Why is that?" 

"ya see, for the other monsters, clearly it wasn't what it was looking for. and while it consumed mine and the weed's samples, it didn't react to yours at all."

Judging by how Frisk blinked multiple times, Sans knew she was just as clueless. So he said they should proceed to their next agenda — how to destroy it. 

As Sans spoke with Frisk, Flowey struggled to look at what they talked about from behind them. He cursed his physical limitations even when he was with the shortest living beings in the Underground. 

_Clink_ _Clink_ _Clink_ _Clink_ _Clink_

“Huh?” Flowey turned. The sound came from what they called the ‘Mavrocyte’ sample was, where it bumped itself against a round bottom flask on the iron stand. Confused, he went closer. It went in Frisk's direction.

Flowey narrowed his eyes.

"So you think that it came from the R—WHOA!" 

"what the—" Startled, Sans turned. Flowey pulled and dropped Frisk onto his worktable.

"weed, what are you doing now?" Sans stood, but stopped when he saw what Flowey had noticed earlier.

Frisk stopped struggling when her eyes laid on the black blob trying to break out of the glass towards her. Raising a vine, Flowey made Frisk's SOUL appear.

That was when the Mavrocyte started to really put its back into trying to get out. As the flask started cracking, all three of them got to the same conclusion immediately. 

Then it shattered.

“AAAAAHHHH!” Flowey latched onto the corner of the wall and Frisk jumped off one table to the next one.

“SANS!” Frisk pointed to the blob that stretched towards all three of them. 

After a few small blasts done out of panic, as quickly as possible, Sans used his magic to open a drawer, carry a glass container, and put it over it. 

For the moments that followed, only the sound of them panting filled the room. 

“WHAT’S HAPPENED DOWN THERE, SANS?” Papyrus' muffled voice reached their ears along with the tap-tap of his footsteps as he made his way downstairs.

“ARE YOU COOKING SPAGHETTI?” He stopped when his eyes landed on the three people he did not expect to see together, looking like a group of agitated mice. 

"WHAT IN—! _SANS!_ ” As if nothing were amiss, Papyrus’ face glowed. “YOU NEVER TOLD ME YOU THREE WERE FRIENDS!" 

Sans gave his brother a shaky smile. "h-heya paps." 

Frisk waved awkwardly and Flowey forced a grin.

Later, the Mavrocyte sample was put back into its container.

* * *

“UNFORTUNATELY SANS, BOOKS ON DETERMINATION AREN’T READILY AVAILABLE IN THE LIBRARY. THEY’VE ALL BEEN BORROWED BY DR. ALPHYS." He glanced to the side, eyes narrowing. "AND HAVE APPARENTLY BEEN LONG OVERDUE...” 

Sans thought for a moment, then grinned. “then that’s fine, paps. i don’t think you’ll need that much excessive knowledge to become a royal guard.” 

“AH, THANK GOODNESS!” Papyrus leaned back on the couch, throwing up the seventh book he read that afternoon. “I DIDN’T THINK I COULD HANDLE ANY MORE INFORMATION THAN I ALREADY HAD!” 

Sans breathed in relief. His brother had to be the lightest weight of this timeline.

“WELL, NOW THAT THAT’S OVER WITH I CAN FINALLY PROCEED TO CONVINCING UNDYNE NOT TO CAPTURE THE HUMAN.” Papyrus stood and smiled, with all the optimism and valor that no one but Papyrus could own. 

“BUT I’M NOT WORRIED. I’M CONFIDENT I CAN STILL IMPRESS HER WITH THIS NEW KNOWLEDGE I GAINED ON MONSTER SOULS AND WHAT THEY'RE MADE OF. YOU’LL SEE! I’LL GET INTO THE ROYAL GUARD SOONER THAN YOU COULD FINISH MY SPAGHETTI!” He did a little chef’s kiss on the way out.

“you go do that now," Sans chuckled. "sorry ya had to get a little _booked_ there, bro.” 

“GOODBYE, BROTHER!” He swung the door open. “I CAN ONLY PRAY YOUR DATE WITH THOSE TWO COULD HAVE EVEN A SPRINKLE OF THE GREATNESS MINE HAD!”

“heh heh…” Sans’ grin felt like one of pain when the door shut. “god have mercy.”

* * *

Now that Flowey, Frisk, and Sans knew that their problem had something to do with their SOULs, for what reason exactly was what they needed to find out, if they were going to figure out how to solve it. Something must have connected all three of them, and they were sure of that, but...

“okay, let’s lay down our problems one more time.” Sans rubbed his forehead. 

Frisk and Flowey nodded from where they were sprawled on the floor with the books. No doubt that after the past two hours of endless research in his room, all their heads started to feel too heavy. Everything seemed to spiral out of control after every thirty minutes, so they tried to get themselves back on track.

“first problem: mavrocyte. second problem?” 

“I’m stuck to _you_.” Flowey grumbled.

Sans pinched the bridge of his nose. “third?”

“RESET button’s gone…” Frisk’s head fell on what she was reading. 

“right…” 

All three groaned. 

“well we at least got one thing down — this is probably a SOUL-based problem.” 

Frisk moaned against the book. “But we still don’t understand why…” 

Sans’ eyesockets narrowed — he had _some_ hypotheses as to why, but decided he’d say it at her face once he'd proved himself indisputably correct. Because if this had anything to do with all the timelines she’d been messing around with for who knew how long, then to hell with all his promises. If they fail, he’d give her the most SOUL-destroying ‘i told you so’ of her life — _literally._

“By the way,” Frisk said. 

Broken out of his thoughts, he quickly grinned. “yeah?”

“This, well… this has always been a bit funny to me.” She slid her finger across a sentence in the book that said, _'while humans possessed powerful SOULs, they could not wield magic like Monsters do.'_

“Some humans _can_ use magic,” she said. 

Flowey pulled his stem back up. “You’re serious?” 

Frisk nodded. “Humans made the barrier, didn’t they?” 

“true,” Sans said behind his book.

“I don’t know how, but I don’t think its nature is the same with Monsters. If anything, I think…” Frisk’s eyes went to the page. 

Sans flitted his pinpricks to her. “yeah?” 

She paused, her brows crinkling. Sans noticed that the light in her eyes waned for a moment. Didn't look like she was pleased with what she was thinking. 

But then she shook her head and smiled.

“ _Tibia honest_ , I don’t really know.” She giggled. “But we can look into it sometime later. Gotta get up there first, right?” 

Sans and Flowey glanced at one another. Seemed like another entirely complicated matter, so neither decided to comment on it further.

* * *

When Frisk suggested looking through the glyphs in Waterfall to find more answers, they agreed they were too scared to travel the usual route, and couldn’t risk more Monsters seeing it. Spit out or not, that thing was traumatizing. So they opted to travel an unconventional way. Frisk mentioned that the wolf in Snowdin throwing large ice cubes could be their best bet. 

“Hey, mister!” the dog throwing ice cubes paused for the first time in his life when a human child disturbed him from beyond his fence.

“Can I ask you a question?” 

The wolf grunted in reply. 

“Where do all these ice cubes go?” 

The giant wolf-monster made a bunch of grunt sounds. 

“Straight down to the CORE, huh?” Frisk nodded. “You mind if we take a lift on one of them? We’ll drop once it reaches Waterfall.” 

Another series of grunting, wolf-like sounds, and Frisk nodded again, humming and going 'uh-huh' every now and then. Standing still where they were, not Sans or Flowey knew what they were witnessing. 

“Of course we’ll pay for it! Just put in on Sans’ tab.” She winked. The wolf looked at Sans and raised an eyebrow. Startled, Sans smiled at him awkwardly.

“Thank you very much! We won’t let you down. Get on, guys!” 

Sans and Flowey looked at each other with the same question in their minds, but it was another thing they silently agreed not to comment on.

Frisk helped Sans and Flowey get on the ice cube, but caught them by surprise when she got off and plopped back onto the snow. 

"Alright. Stay safe, you guys!" 

“wait, you’re not coming with us?” Sans scrambled to the edge of the ice cube, cautiously, lest he flipped it over. 

“Can’t,” she smiled apologetically. “Monster Kid’s waiting and the only way for me to get that spaghetti-making session with Papyrus and Undyne is if I follow that path. All things considered, I think convincing Undyne to _not_ want to kill me should be on our priority list.” 

Sans was uneasy, but she was quick to say, “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. I’ve got someone to watch my back for me.” 

_Papyrus —_ Sans thought. Although worry still slightly tugged at his SOUL, he agreed. 

As Flowey crawled his way up, Sans scooched over on one side of the cube to make space, but the ice tilted, making him slip off. 

“UGH!” Flowey dropped face-first onto the snow. 

“heh. woopsie daisy.” But he wasn't sorry at all. 

“I hate you so much.”

* * *

Frisk smiled as she saw them off.

But once they were out of sight, her smile faded away. She took a few steps forward and faced the empty road. 

"Hey," she said to the snow-covered path, "are you there?" 

Everything was quiet for a few moments, but Frisk knew better than to fall for it. 

_‘That took quite a while,’_ his voice came, finally. _‘What's the matter, screwed up in this timeline too?’_

“I need you to be awake,” she said. Frisk wasn’t about to waste time. 

_‘Wow, isn’t somebody awfully rude. You don’t just ignore people and wake 'em up asking for favors, you know.’_ There was an edge to his tone that sounded rigid. He was upset, but Frisk didn't want to make an issue. 

“You’re right, but in this case it was you who ignored me. But never mind that, I’m going to need your eyes.” 

Chara's curiosity peaked. _‘Sounds like you aren’t in the mood for a chat. Anything important I missed?’_

“I’ll tell you on the way. Just be my second vision until we get past Undyne.” 

_‘I don’t see this as a fair exchange.’_

Frisk tensed. She didn’t normally ask Chara for favors; it was always what he wanted in return that made her anxious. But she really needed him to have her back. 

_‘But you’re lucky that I value satisfying my curiosity, so I’ll let you have your way for now.’_ He seemed to put a careful amount of emphasis on 'for now'. There was no threat, but she wouldn’t say it was casually said either. 

Frisk breathed. At least she got him to cooperate.

“Alright then.” She trudged forward and made for the path that she'd seen more times than she could count for the very last time. 

“So, last timeline, after I saved Asriel, I –” 

_‘Get to the more important details,’_ he said. 

“Right…” Frisk sighed. “So we’re finally down to our last RESET…”


	6. LOVE is a dangerous game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hopes and dreams, eh?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm gonna take some liberties with the game's lore from hereon out but I'm guessing it's forgivable given how ambiguous UT can be anyway hehe. You could call it an AU but not really, I guess? But I hope you enjoy!

_‘So what did he do after? Did he scream and cry into the heavens? Curse you to the next multiverse? Were you begging on your knees after, swearing you’ll pay for your sins?’_

Frisk sighed, and in a tired voice said, “He took it badly at first but then when we found out nobody was actually eaten, he took it pretty well.”

Chara blew a raspberry. _‘Boooring. So what of the giant slimeball now?’_

“ _Mavrocyte._ And I told you, it’s gone...right now, at least.” Frisk’s eyes traveled warily behind her, paying attention to any strange movement in the dump water, feet planted still on the wooden planks.

‘ _Ha! You aren’t even trying to hide how scared you are!’_ His voice was loud and rambunctious. _‘Somehow_ I’m _embarrassed on your behalf!’_

Frisk rolled her eyes at his jeering and submerged her boots in the water, making her way forward in careful trudges. 

_‘How interesting,’_ he said, trying to hold his laughter. _‘Now I’m imagining you’d be screaming to death if someone shrunk you, put you in a bowl, and cracked an egg over you.’_

Frisk clicked her tongue. “It doesn't look _entirely_ like some slime goop, Chara!” She threw her hands up, making gestures with her hands as she explained, “It’s got these weird, creepy, sticky-looking things when it grabs stuff and those look more like—” 

Biting her lip, the words that came to mind made her falter, but by Chara’s silence he expected her to finish. 

“M-Melted cheese…” 

She flinched when he snorted. _‘Let me say that with the way you describe things, I’ve got a pretty stupid image in my mind.’_

Frisk groaned into her hands. Her mind had been noisy with Chara's chattering for an hour now, without a minute’s break. It was aggravating how he needed every single detail before he moved then on to the next question. For a boy as demonic as he was, he sure did have qualities of a curious little boy. It was almost bubbly and innocent and cute, and it made her sick. He was reliable to tell her where there was danger ahead, but he just _loved_ to test her patience in every waking moment. The worst part was she knew he was aware of that. 

She made another tired sigh, unsure if she was thankful or dismayed that they spent enough timelines together to know how his twisted mind worked. “I just can’t learn to get used to you, can I?” 

In the confines of her mind, unknown to her, Chara smirked. 

Frisk felt something amiss and turned around. By the eerie silence that felt emptier than usual, something was terribly wrong. She eyed the heaps of garbage, the cooler of astronaut food, and everything in between them several times. 

Then, bursting out of the garbage water and splashing it all over her face, was the Mad Dummy. 

“You _fiend!_ The _NERVE_ you must have to think you can speak to my cousin and just _completely ignore_ **_me_ **?!”

Frisk stumbled back, wincing and fighting back another groan. Chara got her so riled up she completely forgot about this guy.

“Oh, I see! Think you’re good company all on your own now, don’t ya?! I’m just _garbage_ like everything else down here, huh?! FOOL!”

Frisk grumbled. Now she had to survive the Mad Dummy, one of the most pain-in-the-butt Monsters to ever deal with, who was now madder than usual. 

She couldn’t choose what was worse — that the Mad Dummy was even more uncooperative (and louder), or that Chara still wouldn’t stop talking. 

_‘I said it before and I’ll say it again, but your persistent garbage habit shows no signs of payoff,’_ he said after she tried showing him mercy six times now. 

Both of them, just noise that processed in Frisk’s mind in messy mixes of cotton, dummies, and dummy bots either bruising her at her sides or exploding at her face. Everyone is happy with this but her.

Having enough of it, she yelled, “Do you mind giving me a clue?! We had a _deal_!”

“Hey hey! Who the hell are you talking to?! Weirdo. Weirdo. WEIRDO!!” 

_‘Yeah, yeah.’_ He snickered. _‘You’ve got two options,’_ he paused, and Frisk would’ve pulled her hair out if she wasn’t so busy trying to jump away from the lines of dummies coming from all sides. 

_‘Since you can’t win, you can keep trying to run ‘til Napstablook appears, probably die by getting more dummy rocket to your face in the process,’_ his tone turned sinister, _‘or you can opt to be a little more like_ me _this time_ , _and take the next attack_ **_into your own hands_ ** _.’_

As she barely slipped through the last line of dummies, Frisk’s yell was explosive. “That is _not_ —!”

“I'VE GOT KNIVES!" the Mad Dummy yelled. 

Her heated cry cut short, Frisk gasped and jumped. In a swing of her hand, she grabbed the knife midair, like her body knew exactly what to do with it, and landed back on the water with the swiftness and precision of a feral cat. 

The Mad Dummy froze.

Realizing what she just did, Frisk drew in a sharp breath and dropped the knife. 

"I-I'm sorry!" She stood and raised both palms up, but the Mad Dummy ran away.

Frisk pouted, shoulders slumping. "Great."

As the Mad Dummy disappeared, crying hysterics, her ears continued to echo with Chara’s howling laughter.

* * *

Flowey found the answer to why, despite being a mere vessel, his leaf was eaten by that Mavrocyte sample, and it left a bitter taste in his mouth. 

| _The residuals of a SOUL are the parts of a person’s SOUL that belong to the body. Monster dust is SOUL residue. The corpse of a Human body has SOUL residue too. If there was no part of your SOUL in your body, then everyone would have looked the same!_ |

Dr. Alphys was indeed either too lucky, or far, far too wicked to have injected determination into a flower that had _his_ dust all over it. 

“guess this explains why some monsters aren’t too _soot_ -ed for fighting compared to others, heh.” 

To make matters worse, Flowey wasn’t sure how much longer he could bear this. The skeleton was _obviously_ doing it on purpose. 

They’ve spent the past hour looking at the ancient glyphs to find more clues on SOULs. Frisk had read these, she mentioned, but she was never able to decipher all of them. With the two of them well-versed in the Monster scripts, they wondered if they could find something she didn't. 

“she said she couldn’t read the part after this one, right?” Sans asked. 

“Don’t remember.” But Flowey refused to spare even a glimpse at the glyphs. 

Sans grunted, forcing back a growl. He learned fast he could not tolerate this for as long as he thought. Since they arrived here, there were less things they found that would help them, and more things they found they hated about each other. From being annoyingly loud, prissy and crude, Sans figured he could best describe the weed as a _brat._ And Sans never liked kids.

So to try cooling his head, he proceeded to read: 

| _When a Monster takes a Human SOUL, it becomes the perfect combination of power. But once the Monster dies, a large part of the Human SOUL is gone with its dust._

 _However, the determination in a Human’s SOUL allows fragments of the shared SOUL to persist after death. This is the residue of a Monster-Human SOUL_ — _proof that a being that powerful_ can _exist_. 

_But this cannot be used to break through the barrier_. |

Sans walked past it. 

Flowey followed after him. 

As they walked to the next room, Sans spoke again. “any chance you might know what that strange music-playing statue is all about? could mean somethin’.”

Flowey gritted his teeth. They will not look into _that_ matter any further than this. 

“I never bothered to know anything about it,” Flowey said.

“darn, cause i thought you'd have everything here memorized by now.” Sans turned to him, no smile on his face, and the gaze he held one meant for the beings lesser than filth. 

Flowey halted, all his words and thoughts lost into the quiet water. 

“didn’t think it was ‘fun’ enough to know, huh?” 

In his continued silence, Sans shoved his hands in his pockets and turned on his heel, leaving Flowey like discarded scrap. 

Watching him go, Flowey’s insides churned and rumbled, his vision turning into raging hot red like the surge of flames he was ready to spit, but forced down, as a small part of him wished Frisk were here. Because someone _really_ needed to stop him from killing that skeleton, before he stopped caring if he wasn’t going to enjoy it.

* * *

 _‘Hey, it’s probably your last timeline anyway. Why don’t you finally try eating them?’_

“Stop it.” 

Frisk (and Chara) finally met with Napstablook. She leaned against the wooden fences, watching their snail race unfold. In the past few minutes, all Chara talked about was how some of them were disgusting and how some of them were pretty good — in the context of food. Frisk shuddered each time he mentioned it.

Chara scoffed. ‘ _Why? Toriel serves snail food all the time.’_

Frisk’s face scrunched. “I know, and I never want to go through that again.”

_‘Psh. These snails don’t amount to anything, Friskie. Can’t even make a snail race worth watching. I pity their sad, short lives.’_

“You’re going too far.” Irritation dripped in Frisk’s tone. 

Chara must have rolled his eyes as he said, _‘Please. It’s not like they can hear me. And if they did, would it matter? Ghosts don’t have SOULs.’_

“They don’t, but they can still feel hurt.” She spared Napstablook a glance – at ease to see them captivated by their snail race. 

“You should be able to understand,” Frisk said with a hint of sourness.

Chara became silent. But crossed a line or not, Frisk had her limits too. 

_Look who isn’t so thick-skinned after all_ , she thought to herself, so Chara wouldn’t be able to hear it. 

“oh…are you mad? sorry, this race is boring, isn’t it?”

“Huh?” Frisk whipped her head to Napstablook. 

“i’m sorry……not you, but the one you’re talking to……he seems very annoyed…….does he want us to stop?”

Frisk gaped at them. “You know…he’s there?”

“well, yeah………” They drifted to her slowly, as if wishing to be clear they did not want to fight, and when Napstablook floated close enough, they gently made her SOUL appear in front of her chest.

“right there………” Frisk looked from Napstablook to where they made her SOUL float faintly, trying to ignore a tugging in her chest to listen to him carefully. “he has a nice house in there………sometimes i wish i had one too…….” they trailed off.

“oh, sorry……” They lowered their head when Frisk failed to respond, snapping her out of her daze. “that sounded way too self-absorbed…..i should just be out of your hair…..”

“Wait, no!” Frisk panicked when he started to glide away. 

“Blooky!” She ran after them. “How did you –!” 

A cold, squeezing pain came over her chest, and Frisk choked. Her consciousness was called to the recesses of her mind, in the black space she shared with Chara. 

He stood behind her, his hands with an icy grip on her SOUL, where it hovered over her chest. Her heart felt as if it had been stopped by force, a harsh numbing sensation taking her as if she were being skinned alive.

“Ask him anything more,” he whispered with the harshness of a blizzard, “ **and you’ll** **_wish_ ** **the Mavrocyte finds you** _._ ”

Glowing red eyes piercing her like needles behind her neck, Frisk nodded profusely, eyes shut tight trying to silence the whimper that threatened to leave her throat. 

He seemed satisfied, because he let her go just as suddenly as he grabbed her. Frisk heaved, her senses returning to her, and consciousness back to the corporeal world. She fisted her shirt over her chest, where pain still lingered. Her head throbbed slightly, her body heavy and tingling as blood returned to her limbs. 

She took deep breaths to calm her nerves. She was still aware of her surroundings. Still in control.

Still in control…

* * *

“well, can ya read it?” 

Sans and Flowey, after witnessing the strange display of a dog absorbing an artifact, came across glyphs that Sans couldn’t read. So he told Flowey to crawl up the wall to get a good look at it. (Probably because he’s so _short_ , Flowey had wanted to say). 

The glyph was written in an older script. Flowey hadn’t said so yet, but he had been taught how to read this. It was part of _her_ modules for them. Of all the things he still remembered from that time, it had to be this. 

| _Love is what brings two SOULs together. When you love someone, a part of your SOUL dedicates itself to that person._

 _When they’re no longer around, those parts of your SOUL will continue to hurt, because they belong to someone who’s never coming back._ |

Because ignorance was indeed bliss. 

Because if these words rang with any semblance of truth, why did his mother and father still hurt, even though he was still here?

Why could he never receive those parts of them if they were _meant_ for him? 

Why, for _thousands_ of timelines, did every effort to end in shaking heads, clenched fingers on aged and overused clothes, and in sorry smiles trembling from hiding the sound of a heartbreak?

And why, when all he ever gained by trying were the tears that drenched him in their pity, did that hurt _him_? 

These glyphs truly are ancient. Their meanings are _dead._

“by that look on your face, it looks like ya can.” Sans raised a browbone. “what does it say?” 

“...Nothing important.” Flowey crawled down, heading towards the exit. “Looking at these glyphs was an utter waste of time. Let’s just move on.” 

Rubbing his face, Sans fought another urge at shooting that flower down where he stood. So he forced a smile instead, even though it made his face feel like it was ripping apart. 

“look, _pal,”_ he said. Flowey stopped before the exit at his acrid tone, but kept his eyes on the path he would make away from him. 

“i wanna be nice enough to believe you’re aware of where we stand right now, alright? trust me when i say _i_ want _you_ outta my sight more than you do for me. but only one of us has got the actual brains to figure this out, so i need all the information i can get. all _you_ really need to do is _cooperate._ ”

Scoffing, Flowey said, “Well if you’re _so smart_ why don’t you head back to the library to learn how to read it yourself, while I go find Frisk to tell her that this idea was stupid. You shouldn’t mind. You’re a _natural time-waster_.” 

Flowey was about to leave with the satisfaction of giving the skeleton a taste of his own medicine. But Flowey had no idea of the way Sans’ grin blackened as he watched him go, his SOUL broiling with the rage of a thousand failed lifetimes like they happened all at once. 

His hand went over the side of his head, before he snapped it down with a harsh _Crack!_

Flowey shrieked, leaves flying to the back of his receptacle, where he felt slapped by a sore, burning feeling spreading through his stem. 

“you were entertaining at best, but your attitude isn’t really tickling my punny bone no more,” Sans said, rubbing the back of his neck. “now quit being a sourpuss before you give me enough reasons to _really ‘_ throw you a bone _._ ’” 

“Go ahead, then!” Flowey whipped his head towards him, his glare so intense it would have burned. “Then _you’d_ be to blame for crushing everyone’s hopes and dreams of ever getting out of here!” 

**“...Hopes and dreams, eh?”**

There was a snap sound and Flowey yelped, now wrapped in blue magic and pulled out of the ground. Sans pulled his fingers in and sweeped Flowey across the room, even flipped him over and over on the way, until he had the flower face to face with him, upside down. 

“ha, guess i wouldn’t feel anything more than a little tingle if i did this. should’ve tried this hours ago.” Sans chuckled, but the sound was stinging. 

“hopes and dreams you say? well, the hopes and dreams of most folks down here don’t see anything beyond a little children’s coloring book.” Sans flipped him again, harshly so it made Flowey gag. “and even then, the furthest we can imagine all depends on some picture we see on the walls.” 

Sans paused, grin widening. _“but you know something, buddy?_ ” 

In that moment, Flowey came face to face with the bottomless pits his eyes had turned into, drawn to them like an abyss about to swallow him whole. 

“i ain’t one for prophecies anymore,” he said, voice a prickling cold. “angel who’s seen the surface? harbinger of destruction? doesn’t matter at this point when we’ve got folks like you that love making ‘em come true over, and over, and over again.” 

He tilted his head, slowly, like he wanted to see Flowey’s terror-stricken eyes follow the motion. “you wanna know why i’m still dead set on this absurd plan of ours? cuz i’ve had just about enough of your sick games, weed,” he said, “and if it means that this’ll be the last chance i get to make sure all that ends, _very soon,_ i’ll keep my hopes and dreams solely on that.” 

Sans set Flowey close enough to the ground before dropping him there like a rug. Flowey gasped for breath, leaves holding him up from the floor as he trembled — yet it was not fear that had taken over this time. It was something much, _much_ crueler, and he had done everything to prevent it this entire time. Hadn’t done anything to jeopardize what they already achieved because he _didn’t want to_. But if Sans was going to insist on the evil that was Flowey the flower, then he’d give him exactly what he wanted. 

“ _Games_ ?” the word came like the hiss of a venomous snake, stem bent low as he slowly rose from the dirt. “My... _games_?” 

Then he snickered in a crescendo, its scornful sound rising in tandem with his stem. The room filling with the sick peals of his laughter, Sans went on guard, glaring at the Flower who now sneered at him, baring sharp teeth that belonged to the jaws of an infernal beast.

“ **_Games_ ** _,_ huh?!” He cackled, approaching him. “I’ll have the honor of telling you that I won my games with you a long time ago! And not just because I play better than you, but it’s because you _gave up._ ” 

His face contorted to a harsh scowl, pointing a razor sharp leaf at him.“It’s _you_ who reduced yourself into nothing more than a cog in the machine! So don’t tell me _you’re_ sick of my games because you are no longer a player!” he yelled, “So if anything, the real weed here is _you_ ! You’re a _weakling_!” 

He grinned, wide and wicked. “How _embarrassing_ it must be for Papyrus to be related to such a _lazy,_ **_pathetic_ ** excuse of a brother who only has the will to act _after_ he _watches him_ **_die_ **!” 

And even in his lack of movement where he stood, it was clear to Flowey that he had broken through the final wall of restraint, when Sans met him with a fiery blue glare ready to tear him to pieces. 

“Leave. His name. **_O u t o f t h i s._ ** ” 

Flowey knew, for their sentiments were the same. “Or _what?_ ” 


	7. Don't Know How

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You’re d e a d

After Frisk (and Chara) pacified Undyne, she stopped by Temmie Village to make some cash. As she made her way to leave, Frisk caught sight of a symbol engraved on the wall below Temmie’s portrait. 

It was the Delta Rune…

Her fingers caressed the triangles below, eyes falling back and forth from them, to the winged circle above them. 

Would it be true this time…? 

Frisk shook her head. It will be fine. She’d make sure of it. It could all finally be right. All it would take was just another…

But closing her eyes, flashed in her mind was the last thing she saw after the crash of boulders crushing her bones, before the darkness swallowed her whole, 

**9 9 9 9**

Frisk put her forehead against the symbol, holding onto its promise, to curb any temptation to think it may have been a broken one from the beginning. 

_‘Tired?’_

Frisk scowled at the wall. “Determined.” 

Closing her eyes once more, she continued when she came face to face with him, challenging his glare with her own. “And staying that way.” 

“Pfft,” he chortled. “Even at the very end, you still haven’t learned.” 

He flexed his wrist. Conjured between them was the image of the Delta Rune. “ _That thing_ exists to make everyone’s foolish lives here pretty,” he said. _“_ You just don’t know how to live with consequences.”

Frisk eyed the triangles, her lips forming a thin line. “Make no mistake, Chara. If there’s one thing I do know it’s _that._ ” 

He scoffed. “Your concept of consequence is as flawed as that prophecy then,” he said. _“_ Mere words and sentiments to make. Things. Pretty.” 

“You only think that because you don’t–”

_W h a t k i n d o f g a m e d o y o u t h i n k y o u ’ r e p l a y i n g h e r e, h u h, k i d ?_

Frisk shook her head, as those words came with the flash of those four numbers in glowing white once more. There was no point getting lost in them now. This was no time to let him win.

“I know what you’re trying to do, Chara,” she said, turning her back. “The deal’s done so you get to go back to ‘sleep.’”

**_“Finish what you wanted to say.”_ **

Frisk hesitated, but turned around. Though he grinned as if teasing, it was harsh, just like his gaze now locked on her. Frisk was stalked prey now.

She wanted to end it, apologize for this time maybe she let that slip without thinking, but no kindness would await that. Chara demanded. There would be no getting around it. 

“You think that…” clenching her fingers behind her, she said, “because you don’t believe in anything.” 

He tilted his head, smiling ear to ear, jarring with the hatred that spiked in his gaze. 

“Here’s the _thing_ , Frisk,” he said, scornful. “Everybody. _Lies._ ”

Frisk bit her lip, struggling to keep stoic, as his eyes turned into black pits. 

“Even if it doesn’t start as one, it becomes one. And even if they don’t know it, _they’re still_ **_lying_** _._ ”

She thought they must have a similar view — facing each other between the Delta Rune’s wings. And as he continued to speak, every word sounded like they were shredded off the pages of a disappointing fairytale. 

“Because they can tell you that you can be hope.” 

The wings turned into silhouettes of two people, one of them small, one of them towering over the other — Asgore? 

“That you can have a future,” he said. “That you can _choose_ what you want to be.” 

They seemed to speak to each other, the smaller one nodding. 

“And when you figure out in your own, miserable time that none of that is true, you will ask them why.” Chara closed his fist over them and they disappeared into a whiff of smoke, along with the rest of the delta rune. His laugh was made of spite. “ _Only for them to tell you another lie to believe in._ ” 

Frisk wanted to flee as he approached her, but she was anchored where she was. The expression he wore then, as black oozed from his lips and red slits bore down on her, was a stark reminder of who she was dealing with. 

“Or worse,” finger under her chin, he forced her to look at him. “Just a useless, ambiguous, **_no._ **” 

Her lips quivered, even as she did everything to keep them sealed. It hardly mattered though. She was sure he could see clearly the fright in her eyes. 

“And it will just be the same thing, all the time. No matter who it is. So if you believe in everybody, then…” He snickered. “You believe in _lies._ ” 

He leaned in until nothing filled her vision but his malevolent glare. “If you ever wish to meet someone who’s never lied to you, guess what? That’s _me_.” 

It was as if her mind made the image of him flicker from now to when she first saw him in the mirror. So she shut her eyes tight, facing away, as a familiar chill crawled on her back. She heard him chuckle.

“Now you better _believe_ me when I say that with the RESET button gone, you’re forced to accept what happens next _even if it tears you apart._ ” Leaning to her ear, his next words were quiet as the sting of poison. “And this time, all you’ll have left to blame is _you._ ” 

Chara stepped back, letting her go. When she opened her eyes, he was looking at her over his shoulder. “So keep telling yourself what you want.” 

Frisk finally moved, any tough act she had breaking to pieces. “Wait, I'm sorry. I–” 

“Next time you ask a favor – well, _assuming_ you have a next time – be nice and kind all you want. _I will not be._ ” 

"Chara, wait!" She tried to reach for him, but he disappeared into a vortex of red, leaving nothing but black again. He had gone back to his 'sleep'.

Feeling helpless and pretty stupid, Frisk’s consciousness went back to the corporeal world, where she curled up into a ball and muffled her groans in her knees. The Temmies and Bob all around her whispered and tittered to one another at the display, but she could hardly be bothered. 

Even if he had once terrified her, guilt was always the monster that ate her in her sleep, and it was that which he summoned like an army out to maul her down. 

Before she could get lost and drown in it though, she heard a series of noises from the distance. One sound was the familiar blast of a skeleton monster. Her blood went cold. 

"Oh, don't tell me..." 

Frisk ran out of Temmie Village.

* * *

Sans and Flowey had gotten into a full blown fight. 

The entire musical section of Waterfall — the piano, the music box statue, and the secret room — was completely destroyed. Bones jutted out of the walls, seeds smacked and scattered to the corners, and vines muzzled gaster blasters in a solid grip. 

With their situation, they should know to stop. But wounds cut too deep, rage spiked too high. They’ve resorted to giving each other a bad time without any deathly blows. But even as each hit inflicted hurt one as much as the other did, it added fuel to each of their fires. _Because this is all_ **_his_ ** _fault_ — was the searing thought in both of their minds. 

And just as Sans readied another attack, something else filled his vision. For one moment, he saw it. Flash of brown hair, mixing with a combination of yellow and green. It was the kid – the _other_ kid. The one he _loathed_. The one whose laugh he heard in countless nightmares as he sought to make it pay. 

So despite hearing “STOP!”, Sans waved his hand down. The last thing that was heard was a rain of bones came crashing down and a shrill scream that came with it. 

Though all of Waterfall is blue as far as the eye can see, it had been stained with red.

Frisk’s blood splattered on its walls. She choked on the ground, pinned by bones protruding from her body. A pool of her blood grew bigger and bigger, drenching her blue and pink striped sweater in it. 

"What do you think you're _doing_?!" Flowey yelled, snapping Sans out of his daze. But every bone in his being had gone numb. This was nothing like what he saw, it was worse.

Frisk's body convulsed. She wasn't dead yet. His attack was brutal enough that it missed the visceral organs that would have killed her immediately. Sans could see clearly — bones through every joint, through her chest, through her thighs — she was going through _torture._

“K…i…e…" She coughed out blood, chin flowing with it. "K-Kill…m… **_ki-kill me_ ** _._ ”

Sans couldn’t move. Nothing came through to him. Not even Flowey’s frantic screaming. All he could think of was Frisk’s pained retching, the black box that appeared behind her, the LV 1 and 0 EXP, and the bar that went from yellow to red so slowly it was excruciating _._

Seed bullets rained down on Frisk. The black box disappeared, and she lay there dead. 

Snapping out of it, Sans nearly lost his mind, overtaken by unbridled fury. 

He grabbed the flower and put him against the biggest gaster blaster he could make, ready to fire, no matter the cost. 

“You’re **_d e a d_ ** _,_ weed.” 

But Flowey’s rage challenged his. “She was planning to _load_ , dumb trashbag! I just did her a _favor_!”

Sans, at a loss, still delirious with anger, looked to where Frisk would have been dead, but found everything gone — clean, like it never happened. 

She had successfully loaded, but this is the first time he'd experienced having all memories intact after. It must have been a side effect of his situation with Flowey. But that aside, that was all Sans could get his head around. 

What just happened to him? He was completely aware of what he wanted to do, but it was like he didn’t know who he was. What made him _do_ that? 

He was the one that made judgement towards that girl for every Monster she hurt. Despite his promise, he _had_ to do that. Yet there he stood, the weight of killing the blameless in cold blood making him unable to act, until someone else had to. 

The image of a human child’s corpse impaled by bones playing over and over in his head, Sans’ thoughts came as clear as they were sickening. 

All this time, he branded the flower as evil, yet Flowey was the one that saved Frisk. 

Flowey killed Frisk out of _mercy_. Sans just stood there scared out of his wits.

* * *

When Frisk came back, she was unscathed and fresh — pristine like she’d never seen pain. But she wasn’t happy at all. Yet all the same, there was no emotion on her face. 

Sans and Flowey had waited, standing a fair distance from each other. A pestering thought telling him now might be a time for sorries was pushed to the back of Sans’ mind. Not when there was nothing he could say he could mean. 

Flowey gave her a once-over, but kept his mouth shut. 

Though they expected her to say something — burst in fury, cry in frustration, get mad for nearly letting everything they’ve done go to waste, there was nothing to say. Not for any of them. They only stood in the middle of a room with a few piles of debris between them. 

So Frisk just took a deep breath. “Come on.”

* * *

The silence continued as Flowey and Sans followed Frisk to Undyne’s house. 

Sans was hesitant to break it and ask where she was going with this, not exactly in the mood for any chitchat just yet. 

They stopped at the entrance and Frisk knocked. Shuffling immediately came from beyond. When Undyne opened the door, she had a big smile on her face, but stopped short of her words when she saw who stood behind her.

Frisk wore an ear-to-ear grin. “Hiya, Undyne! Listen, remember how I said I was going to bring friends over for our spaghetti party? Well, surprise!” 

“...You meant _Sans_?” 

"Mhmm! And this is Flowey!" She gestured behind her with her thumb. "You ready for a super fun spaghetti-making party?" Frisk said, even though the other two barely showed the same enthusiasm, still processing the surprise as well. 

Papyrus appeared in the doorway. "OH! SANS AND FLOWEY ARE HERE TOO? WOWIE! THIS IS SO MUCH BETTER THAN I IMAGINED IT WOULD BE! LET THEM IN, UNDYNE! LET'S HAVE A BLAST!" 

Undyne paused, then just shook the questions out of her head, putting on her best smile. 

“Then come right in!”

* * *

The spaghetti-making session was now done with five people. A crowd, Undyne admitted, but she tried her best to have fun. 

Out of all of them, Sans and Flowey were the least energetic. Although his grouchiness was just Flowey (as Frisk put it) ‘being his usual self,’ — as Papyrus fed him all the spaghetti and he just screamed at everyone — Sans' morose mood was something to be worried about. And was noticed by _everyone_. 

Flowey didn’t seem to care, Frisk didn't comment on it at all, while Papyrus didn’t stop trying to get it out of him. Since they started, he’d been saying things like, “YOU'VE PROBABLY HAD ONE TOO MANY BREAKS AND NOW YOU'RE MORE TIRED THAN YOU'D BE ON YOUR REGULAR LAZY DAY” or “IS THE JOB OF A LAZYBONES THAT STRESSFUL, HUH SANS?”

But Sans was as tight as a clam. He waved these off with a pun or two, but not even then did Papyrus stop. All of them could tell his usual mojo wasn't there. 

Undyne thought she should say something too, but nothing could come to mind. She and Sans were never close, and their interactions were minimal. Save for that one argument they had about guard stuff, and another about Papyrus being a part of it. Overall, they were just...civil. 

When Papyrus' attempts at subtlety became futile, he then said, "WHAT'S WITH YOU, SANS? REALLY?" 

Seated in a broken table with the eyes of his brother and Undyne on him, Sans felt the room somehow get stuffy and hot. And not because of the burning stove. 

“well, would you look at the time.” Sans stood up, his eyes were on the empty wall, if only to avoid their startled faces. “i guess one of my legally required breaks just ended.”

No one was fast enough to stop him from opening the front door. But before he left, keeping his back turned, he said, “and yes papyrus, the job of a lazybones, apparently, _is_ that stressful.” 

The door shutting gently behind him was the last they saw of him. 

Papyrus deflated as soon as he was gone. His smile, his energetic aura — everything had gone out the door with him. He looked guilty for what he had just done. 

Undyne was the first to ask, "Hey, you okay?" 

Papyrus refused to look at them. He must have been close to tears, but didn't want to show it at the risk of Undyne thinking he was uncool, so he kept his head down. 

“Papyrus…” Frisk said softly, putting a hand over his gloved one on the table. 

“HUMAN…TO TELL YOU THE TRUTH…I ACTUALLY…” 

When she noticed the tenseness of his shoulders as he proceeded to rub the side of his arm, it broke her heart to see him so troubled — so unsure, as he said, 

“DON’T KNOW HOW TO COMFORT MY BROTHER.” 

Frisk’s brows knitted, her chest heavy as she stroked the back of his head and held his hand tighter. 

Even Flowey couldn't be callous at the sight. After all, of all the Monsters in this stupid Underground, Papyrus was the least. In his own way of trying to comfort the skeleton, he pushed his half-eaten plate of spaghetti to the center. 

"I want more," he said, turning away. 

Papyrus raised his head, and with a sniffle he tried to hide, he managed a smile. "SURE." 

“Hey, look at the bright side.” Undyne tried to comfort him too. “At least you won’t be hearing any annoying puns from him for a while.” She laughed, albeit awkwardly. When all Papyrus did was nod as he got up to fill Flowey's plate, she knew she messed up. 

Frisk watched him go, and unable to take it anymore, she stood up and took for the door. 

"I'll be back soon!” she exclaimed as she opened it. “Just gonna go check out that Shyren concert I heard of! Save some thirds for me please!" 

Undyne, despite herself, knew that Frisk was going to do some good and talk sense into the older skeleton brother. And at that moment, she had a thought — humans are alright. 

"Sure thing! I'll even save you fourths! Knowing you, you can handle it!" 

Frisk smiled back before heading out.

* * *

Sans stood next to a glowing blue pond, staring into it to try to calm his troubled mind. So far, it wasn't working. 

When he closed his eyes, the hazy images of a sunlit hallway came. And at the end of that hallway, glowing red eyes and a wicked smile would greet him. 

Vague memories of gaster blasters trying to hit a wildly moving target, and failing over and over again. 

Of countless bones being thrown at his dispersal, either ramming through a child or cut in half with a knife. 

Of a body Sans slammed up and down against the walls. 

Of dragging that creature down by its SOUL to be impaled by bones.

Then his vision went black. Those eyes and that smile were right in front of him, and a slash of an equally blinding red came. 

Sans opened his eyes. The glowing water continued to flow without a fuss, as behind him, someone approached.

"Sans," Frisk said quietly. 

Sans turned around slowly, and showed her a smile that didn’t even convince himself. "hey kid."

“Sans, we need to —” 

"sorry about leaving. just felt a little cramped in that house, ya know? gotta say for a fish lady's abode, it didn't feel very _re-fish-ing_." He chuckled and strolled by the water — walking away from her. 

Frisk followed. "Sans, can we—" 

He continued to ignore her, cursing how he had no way of getting a shortcut out of here. When she continued to tail him, Sans’s jaw tightened. Frisk was not a force so easily put down and he knew this well. 

"Sans—!" 

"give it a rest, kid." 

Frisk flinched, forced to a stop. 

His back towards her, he told her, “can't you take a hint? i don't wanna talk about it.” 

He walked away again, but Frisk couldn't afford to let him. 

"Sans, stop!" she yelled, and to her surprise, he did. 

"Sans, I need you to talk to me,” she said gently. “I know we’re very lost and confused, and well...there were things that... didn’t need to happen. But I want us to talk. Don’t forget that you're a part of the everyone that I want to save. So please...let me help you." 

After a long silence, he said, "trust me kid, you can't." 

Frisk clenched her fists. "You don't know that!" 

"drop it frisk. you wouldn't understand." 

"That's because you don't _let_ anyone understand!" 

Sans stopped responding. Taking a breath to calm herself, Frisk spoke again. 

"Papyrus once told me something” she said, “That I’ll be truly happy if I lived for my sake instead of his… I think he told me that because he thought about you.”

Frisk hesitated when he remained motionless. “And just now...he's so full of heartache because he doesn't know how to help you." 

She noticed Sans' shoulders tense at that. It made her a bit nervous, but she swallowed it down. "So please...for your sake and his..." 

His fists shook. Eyesockets dark and smile gone, Sans felt like he was about to explode. That was it. He had had just about enough of this child’s play. 

“then why did you do it?” he said coldly.

"Wha—...what…?" Frisk’s voice was thin.

“you know what i’m talking about.” He turned to her, and showed her the expression he wore. 

Frisk, understanding, felt blood rush out of her, bones getting trapped in a cruel, icy cold. No matter how long ago that may have been, her decisions still haunt her like not a second had passed. 

“Sans…” she said weakly, until her voice couldn't stay steady, revealing how vulnerable she was. “Please...You probably don’t want to listen to anything I say, but believe me when I say I never wanted to do it.”

“whatever,” he nearly hissed, "it's not like what you say matters. there's no way you could change that. don't bother." 

“Sans, please, trust me!” 

“i’m sorry, who was it that lied about the reset button until you had absolutely no choice? pal, that alone gives me a reason not to.” 

Frisk paused, hurt in her eyes. “I thought we were past that...” 

Sans scoffed. “a lie like _that,_ frisk? what exactly did you want me to think? Get real, kid. You expect me to trust someone who believes they have a _good_ _reason_ for doing the wrong things?”

 _what about_ **_you?_ **

Sans gritted his teeth. “well?” 

Frisk’s voice trembled. “I-I just...I didn’t want this timeline to go wrong.” 

“right,” Sans shot back. “but you decided some timelines ago that it was okay to use one to do _that._ ”

“Th-there were things I needed to…!” Surprised by her own words, Frisk trailed off. “Needed to…”

Her gaze became low. There was no excuse. 

_So why should you have one?_

Sans threw the thought to the back of his mind, glaring at the wall where he spotted another Delta Rune. “If all you’re gonna say from hereon out is you want to save everyone, then stop lying about that too. Because if what’s best for everyone was _really_ on your mind, then you should’ve just stopped the first chance you got it.”

Frisk stammered. “I know I—”

“No, you _don’t._ ” 

He no longer looked at her as he continued, because Sans really didn’t know what was making him say all of this. _Now,_ of all times. It just felt too easy. 

This is all _her_ fault anyway, his thoughts continued to argue. _She_ should’ve, _she_ should’ve, _she_ should’ve — even though, without a do-over, she would have been dead for nothing because of _him._ Even though deep down, he had no idea if he had any right to judge that anymore. 

“I _know_!” Frisk’s broken voice jolted him from his daze. She sounded so brittle, full of regret and sadness, that it was enough to bring his eyes back to her. 

There she stood, shoulders nearly reaching her ears, and her eyes pouring.

"I know what my mistakes are and I know how much I hurt you! I really, _really_ know! And I want to make up for it! I'm already trying my _best_!" 

Face flushed, dampening her sleeve with tears that seemed to carry the burden of the world’s sorrows, as she sobbed, “But you'll never be happy with that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hooray for mass update ;) Thanks for your kind comments!


	8. Feelings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Tell me about it.”

With Flowey left alone with Undyne as Papyrus made spaghetti, the two of them sat awkwardly at the table. Undyne tapped on the table wood while Flowey tried to find something that was remotely amusing, until it was eventually Undyne that gave in. 

“So, uh...you... _don’t_ get along with Sans too?” 

Flowey was puzzled. What did _she_ know about him? 

The question must have been evident on his face because Undyne quickly said, “Papyrus sort of mentioned a flower friend of his earlier, and told me that it didn’t look like you two even liked the idea of one another. I could understand, but it made me wonder what _you’d_ have against him.” _you know, just so this isn’t so awkward,_ she seemed to mutter after. 

Flowey grunted. Papyrus did _love_ to talk. But even Sans mentioned something about Undyne being a pain to him. He’d had his fair share of RESETs, but he never knew what made the two of them dislike each other. Finding nothing better to do, he feigned being considerate. 

“Why don’t you go first?” he asked, though there was a dryness in his tone that came out of habit. 

Flowey knew how to handle Undyne. Give her the chance to talk about herself, she’d take it.

“Hah,” she rolled her eyes, and Flowey knew she played right to it. 

“That chubby-faced munchkin and I’ve known each other for a while, but we could never see eye to eye no matter what,” she said. “Though...I think things only started getting really rough between us after King Asgore chose to make _him_ his personal bodyguard instead of me.” 

Her lips downturned, she said, “I was really angry at his majesty back then. After all, _I_ was the one he trained! Me!” She jabbed her thumb to herself. “I was the one who wanted and _deserved_ to be by his side all the time! But he chose _Sans_ as his right-hand man! You wouldn’t even _think_ that the laziest _prick_ in all of the Underground would be capable of such a thing!”

She leaned back in her seat, crossing her arms. “So I confronted Sans about it. I remember being so mad that I somehow ended up challenging him to a fight...But he was gone before I could land a hit on him.” Her voice grew softer by the end of her sentence. Undyne’s eyes were glued to the table. 

“I tried again and again to convince his majesty to let me stay by his side, but he wouldn’t budge,” she said. “He probably felt sorry for me at some point, and that’s why he made me Captain of the Royal Guard instead...” 

“Huh...” Flowey mused. He knew that Sans had a role in guarding the Underground, and even knew about what Undyne just told him, to some extent. He just didn’t realize that Sans had _that_ big of a role to play. It _did_ annoy Flowey a lot, but it made sense with how persistent he was in trying to kill him back when it was only him resetting. 

“After that, I don’t remember ever getting along with him. We argue whenever we get stuck in a room together for too long, so we try not to see each other too often. His brother’s pretty cool though, I’ll give him that. He’s the only one that makes being around Sans passable.” 

Flowey gave a dry laugh. “Tell me about it.” 

Undyne smiled. Before she could ask about Flowey, he went ahead with another question. 

“Why did Asgore end up choosing him anyway?” he said again, voice dull. “Surely you weren’t incapable. What did _he_ have to do with the Royal family?” 

She hummed, brows knitting. “Well, he told me that Sans was appointed because he was this supposed eldest ‘son’ or something of the previous royal scientist.”

Something clicked in Flowey’s mind at the mention of the previous royal scientist.

“Royal scientist...you mean Gaster?”

Undyne looked surprised. “Uhh, yeah. That’s what I heard his name was. Not a lot of people actually know. Didn’t think you would, being a flower and all.”

Flowey grumbled, but knew better than to waste his time explaining. 

“Apparently, he and his majesty used to be really good buddies. Heard they fought together in the war, so they trusted each other a lot…” she trailed off. Flowey knew that that was the extent of what she knew about Gaster. 

Undyne scoffed. “Now, I’m not gonna lie. Sans can be pretty darn tough when he’s not lazing around.” She pouted. “But _I’m_ the _current_ Royal Scientist’s _best friend_!” She grinned, wide and frantic — still desperate to win this argument even after so long. 

Flowey rolled his eyes and began to think. What did he know about Gaster? Little to nothing, if he was honest. He only knew him from when he was still _him_ , back when _they_ were still together. That was a long time ago. 

The only thing he remembered was that he asked Chara for something when he was still figuring out how to use the void to power the CORE. 

“But I haven’t been able to reach her at all lately. She hasn’t even posted anything all day,” Undyne said softly. 

Flowey’s attention snapped back to her. That was a first. Then again, a lot of things happening in this timeline have never happened before. 

“Did you ask anyone what happened?” Flowey asked. He didn’t care about the reptile, he just needed some answers.

“I – I don’t need to ask anything!” Undyne laughed hysterically, sweating. “She’s the _Royal Scientist_ ! Of course she gets busy with all that CORE and breaking the barrier and stuff! Besides, why _should_ I ask? It’s not like we’re dating!” 

Flowey felt stupid for even bothering to ask, so he tried to put the pieces together on his own. 

Alphys _is_ in charge of monitoring the CORE. And her inactivity has never happened before. If this were a normal timeline, she’d be monitoring Frisk. 

But he noticed it back on their way to Snowdin too – while the human and smiley trashbag were pretending to play puzzles with Papyrus. None of the cameras that she hid were active. He’d been doing this longer than Frisk has – it wouldn’t have happened if there wasn’t any connection to what was going on now. That only meant that, if his memory served him right, something was wrong with the CORE, and it might have to do with Gaster’s work with the void. 

He was too young to understand then, but hearing all about it somehow paid off.

“Although…I do get worried.” Undyne spoke again, but there was not a hint of her usual toughness, bringing Flowey out of his thoughts. 

“Alphys has a lot of sad episodes. I can never understand why. Even if I try to get it out of her, she’d clam up and just…disappear sometimes...” 

Her fingers tightened around her cup of tea, and Flowey caught the distress in her eyes. 

“I get really worried when that happens... Because sometimes, I’m afraid that she’ll…”

Flowey caught his breath – an image from a distant time flashed in his mind. 

A vase of golden flowers on the bedside table. Once rosy cheeks, now pale as ivory, as he lay on his bed. He smiled at him despite struggling to even breathe, his lips mouthing a promise that was never fulfilled. 

It was quick, but he saw enough to feel a blistering pain from a scar that time never did heal. 

Flowey shook his head, wishing it would shake away the memory too. 

“What’s up with you all of a sudden?” Undyne raised an eyebrow. 

Flowey slapped her hand away with his vines when she tried to reach for him.

“This house reeks of sweat, bones, and seafood and it makes me _sick_ ! Tell Papyrus I don’t want any more crummy spaghetti! I’m _out of here!”_ He burrowed into the tiles of her house and disappeared from her sight.

“Huh…” Undyne sat there, looking at her now damaged floor. Normally she’d be offended and start running after the plant if she didn’t sniff the place herself and understood what he meant.

“Eugh…” She pinched her nose.

Just then, Papyrus came in, holding up two more heaping plates of spaghetti. 

“HERE’S ANOTHER BATCH OF – WAIT, WHAT HAPPENED THERE?”

Undyne looked between him and the broken tiles he gestured to, unable to think of something to say.

He looked around. “WHERE DID THE FLOWER GO? I BROUGHT HIM HIS SPAGHETTI…”

When his smile started to fade away again, Undyne got to her feet and threw her arms up. 

“HEY! How ‘bout we save that spaghetti for when they come back later and have another training session today, huh?” 

“REALLY?” He grinned. “BUT AREN’T WE DONE? YOU SAID YOU CAN ONLY TRAIN ME FOUR TIMES A DAY...”

“Consider this a _Captain of the Royal Guard treat_!” She winked and gave him her biggest grin yet. “We’ll even have a special guest star!”

“WHO?”

“ME! That’s who!” 

“AWESOME!”

When Papyrus seemed fired up and ready, Undyne’s worries were eased. A Papyrus that didn’t smile was no Papyrus at all. 

She smiled to herself and breathed in. 

“But let’s train somewhere else!”

* * *

Everything was still as Frisk sobbed in front of him, crouched down with her face in her hands. 

Sans had been at a loss. He’d known the kid for a while now, but this was the first time he’d seen her cry her eyes out like this. It was…uncomfortable to look at, to say the least.

“kid…” he said, “i-i…” 

But there was nothing to say.

He stood there until Frisk sniffled away her last sob. After she had wiped her swollen eyes and red nose, she kept her gaze on the glowing blue, quiet water.

“l-look, i…” He tried to think of something, anything to help her feel better. He even thought of telling her he was sorry. But he knew what would come out was a hollow apology. 

“who am i kidding…” He sighed. “what are we doing, still fooling around like this?” 

His shoulders slumped. He was tired of this. It was time to ask the questions he’d been dying to ask. “i just…i wanna hear it from you, kid. for what reason do you keep sending us back here?” 

He paused. “why can you never settle for what you’ve done for us hundreds of times already?” 

Frisk eyes still glistened slightly, but at least she met his now.

“i know that you’ve been doing this for a long time. exactly how long escapes me, i don’t have that much power to really remember, but…” His gaze was firm. “i can see it in your eyes. you’re just as trapped down here as the rest of us are.” 

Frisk tensed. He did not miss the way her eyes flinched. 

“but it’s not a barrier that’s keeping you in here. it’s something inside you,” Sans said. “and judging by the look on your face, you know exactly what it is.” 

She hung her head. Yet in her stillness all meaning was conveyed.

“i just…i just wish you wouldn’t trap us down here with you, you know? because buddy,” the smile he showed her was painful, “you might not bat an eye each time you do it, but there are a hundred Monsters with you that _don’t deserve_ what you’re doing to them.” 

Then, Frisk’s brows came together, and she wiped her face. 

“Sans, I know you don’t trust me,” she said, “but I want you to know…That everything I’ve done to you…all those times I played with everyone’s lives…Don’t think that doing this to you doesn’t hurt me.”

Her voice was shaky. “Because it does...in front of every single one of you...every time.” 

Frisk sighed, curling into a ball. “There was never a time I didn’t think of giving up what I wanted, and believe me, I was tempted to. It’s never been easy each time I tried. But…”

She turned, facing her reflection on the water. “It’s just…When I think about being in the position of the one that someone failed to save…my hand starts to move…” She lowered her head, hair curtaining her face. 

_ ‘I don’t...want to let go.’ _

“...and we all end up here again.” 

Both took a moment of silence – let the words flow between them, allowing them to feel their weight for everything they’d gone through. 

“But…” Frisk continued. “When you’re given the chance to do the things I can do…to have a chance to make things better, to save someone…and then you choose not to…” 

Frisk lifted her head. “Don’t you think that that’s even worse?”

And they looked at each other head-on. After a cycle of neverending encounters, Monster and Human, finally meet, bearing themselves to one another. 

Sans was speechless where he stood. With all that he’d seen and all that he’d been, he couldn’t bring himself to agree with her words.

Yet, he understood her completely.

A face from a distant time, from what felt like a different life, flashed in his mind. He tried so hard to forget him, yet he still remembered the cracks on the man’s face, his eerie yet endearing grin, the white coat above the black suits he loved to wear.

He remembered that face getting farther.

Farther and farther down.

So far, that reaching out for him was useless. Yet Sans still did, unable to look away from the disaster awaiting him, as he was eaten up in the endless black pool at the very bottom of their creation, swallowed by the explosions that came after.

Minutes before the tragedy, the whole lab and the CORE – in its final phase of construction – had been evacuated once they’d realized something had gone terribly wrong. 

But that man stayed, if only to save everyone else from his mistakes.

He told him to run. He wouldn’t listen, but Sans couldn’t just leave him.

The man eventually succeeded. Of course he did – he had always been so brilliant, deserving of every ounce of praise for his heroic deeds in the Underground.

Only, he never heard them. Soon enough, no one had heard of him either. He had disappeared, without a trace. The world kept going though, like there was nothing amiss.

But for Sans, the world had stopped.

Only select people still remembered him, he discovered, like King Asgore and the Queen – the only ones who knew him from before they were sealed in this underworld prison. But everyone else, even his own family, Papyrus, had forgotten everything about him. 

Though Sans may have been able to get to places a lot faster ever since that incident, he was rarely ever happy about it. It only made him wish he had the ability to shortcut back then, before the man fell. Because, maybe then, he wouldn’t have failed him. Maybe then, he’d still be here.

Maybe then, Sans wouldn’t have wasted years trying to bring back a man that didn’t exist anymore. Wouldn’t have the crippling fear that someday he, too, may forget about him. 

He remembered when he wept over a picture he found in what remained of the man’s office, after multiple attempts to bring a ghost back to life, and failing. 

Desperate and eyes full of tears, he grabbed a pen and wrote as clearly as he could,

 **_‘Don’t forget.’_ **

“You know, even with all my mistakes, you aren’t exactly swimming in clear waters either.” 

Pulled out of his daze, Frisk was there, standing with her shoulders back, her eyes in level with his.

“You’re gonna talk about what the Monsters down here deserve? Well, let’s start with Papyrus, then.” 

With the way she looked, Sans had a feeling that the one speaking was not the pacifist that put everyone’s happiness before hers, but the raw person within her that she set aside for the sake of others. This was Frisk telling him what Frisk really thought. 

“Does he deserve to feel useless to an older brother he loves, yet is never given the chance to understand?”

Frisk saw the disconcertment in Sans as she looked straight at him, and remembered how heartbroken Papyrus looked, as his hand moved to hug himself, as if he were the most helpless creature alive.

“Papyrus never asks because he cares about what you feel, Sans. I wish you’d at least give him the chance to know what those feelings are.”

Her words dug deep, biting him like a harsh set of jaws where his SOUL was. There was nothing he could say back.

Frisk turned and faced the path she came from. “I’ll…I’ll leave you to think, if that’s what you really want. I’ll go and check on Undyne and the others. When you’re ready, we can start moving on to Hotland to continue fixing your SOULs...and our Mavrocyte problem...” 

Frisk hesitated to leave, gaze flickering back to him, but she mustered her resolve and walked away, leaving the skeleton Monster to his thoughts. 

She didn’t realize that she walked by a creature hiding behind the rocks, who had listened to their conversation unintentionally.

The flower peaked his head out, eyes following Frisk’s form, before they went to the skeleton, who now stared into the shining rocks above them. 

Something faint grew within Flowey – something that was much too small to be given a name yet. Assertive and miniscule …gently throbbing and tugging at his nerves. He remembered a saying then, 

_A long time ago, Monsters would whisper their wishes to the stars in the sky. If you hoped with all your heart, your wish would come true._

And his words. 

_“I can get behind a wish like that.”_


	9. Truce

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I still hate you.”

Before this timeline, Sans had a dream. Or more accurately, a nightmare. Probably his worst one in ages. 

There was a man in front of him who spoke in hands, with a face he could barely recognize anymore. 

Most of the message he gave had blurred into a series of incoherent cuts like a broken CD player, but there was one clear thing Sans was able to get from that: 

_ T h i s i s t h e e n d _

Sans sat quietly on a wooden bridge, his pink slippers dangling above the glowing water. He knew that they should be getting a move-on, with the many uncertainties they still had to figure out, but they would only be fooling around if they kept going as they were.

Taking the time to get his head cleared, Sans knew now that he shouldn’t have attacked Frisk that way. He really did have a bad habit of taking the easy way out, even when it was against his better judgement, unable to rise above his own pain and fears even if it hurt someone.

Fears…

Sans closed his eyes. A wicked cackle echoed in his mind, with the sounds of blasters, the sensation of a dusty hallway, and bones crashing onto cement.

The laugh intermingled with a scream then, until it was all he heard.

He thought of Frisk laying on the cold ground, blood staining her sweater, and the immense pain on her face as she told him to kill her. 

_ ‘When people are scared, they often do bad things.’ _

The same day after he woke up from that nightmare, a funny reading in his basement appeared that only confirmed his suspicion. One thought led to another, and the first thing he did was take it up with the weed. Because if that dream was anything true, and it proved that it did, the only ending that Sans wanted to have was the last timeline’s. No matter what. 

But it seemed Frisk always had a different ending in mind. And Sans might not be qualified enough to pass judgement on her for that anymore. 

_ ‘He’s just scared.’  _

Sans opened his eyes. Like a perfectly timed coincidence, the flower was now right in front of him, wearing his usual grouchy frown.

“heya, weed.”

Flowey raised an eyebrow. Sans cleared his throat (though he didn’t actually have one).

“look, uh…guess an apology’s due.” His pinpricks wandered to the distance.

Flowey’s face twisted in confusion. “What's gotten  _ you _ so mushy?”

"kid got me thinking, you see," Sans said.

"Oh..." Flowey remembered what he overheard, both the first time and their conversation just now. He’d actually been waiting for the right time to approach him. A good five or ten minutes had to pass before Flowey decided to come out, if only to not make it obvious that he eavesdropped on them. And if only to make talking to him less awkward. But that didn’t seem to work, looking at him now.

“look, i won’t pretend that i somehow care about what you feel now, but none of us are gonna get what we want if we keep going this way.” 

“So?” Flowey said. 

“so,” Sans stood up and gave him a loose smile. “how about a truce, huh? just until we fix this mess. and whether or not this ends with both of us, one of us, or none of us getting saved this time around, we can go back to killing each other if we still feel like it. sound good?”

Flowey narrowed his eyes. “I still hate you.”

Sans shrugged. He could say the same. 

“And I mean really,  _ really _ hate you.” Flowey gave him the stink eye. Even then, Sans kept his easy smile on.

Flowey sighed, then turned away. “But I hate the idea of dying while still stuck to you even more.”

Sans’ smile widened. “heh, i’m glad we both  _ rose _ to the occasion, then.” 

Flowey glared at his wink. 

“ah, come on. at least i ain’t gonna give you a  _ bud  _ time no more.” Sans chuckled.

Flowey nearly ripped out all of his petals. “Aaaagh! The sooner I no longer have to put up with your crummy SOUL affecting me, the  _ better _ !”

Sans just laughed. Funny how it went from crying bloody murder to this. Probably the worst of all humor he’d ever partaken in, but it did feel a lot lighter on his shoulders than any legally required break had. Surprising himself, he managed to have a little hope – for it to last.

“Listen up, trashbag,” at the change in his tone of voice, Sans stopped and met the flower’s hard gaze.

“The only reason I came here is because the royal sushi said something you’re gonna need to hear about so shut up and listen.”

* * *

Frisk was distracted by a few monsters on her way back to Undyne’s house, but even after she pacified them, her head was still heavy with her conversation with Sans.

She groaned, her fingers coming up to her hair, pulling it down the same time she curled on herself. “Why did I say that…”

Frisk rubbed her temples, regretting how she handled that situation.

An apology from her is probably due too. It was going to be awkward to go back to investigating their problems this way.

For the nth time, she wished she could RESET. And instantly after wishing she regretted that too.

She scratched both sides of her head, if only to let out all the remorse she was feeling.

The first time Frisk got to break the barrier, the only thing that could never leave her mind was the thought that it wasn’t over yet. She thought she had enough reasons to believe that, but he was right. Everything he said was right. His words were burned into her mind. They ate at her, reminded of what Flowey always told her.

_ ‘Don’t you have anything better to do? _ ’

To have done it all alone, for a long, long time searching for the answer to a future she didn’t even know if she could get, it was clear to her now, dying wasn’t the only thing she had regretfully become used to. 

Frisk drew in a breath, looked up, and released it. She felt a bit better after that.

If those two were going to be difficult then it would make things worse if even she gave up. She had to keep it together. 

“One last shot…” she muttered; a mantra that kept her going this entire timeline.

Gathering her courage and determination, she slapped her cheeks and stood up straight.

“Okay. You can do this, Frisk.” Feeling her SOUL exude with energy again, she managed to put on a smile.

She turned the next corner, knowing better than the back of her hand that she had arrived at Undyne’s house.

She froze in her steps.

Everything had gone silent.

Frisk found herself standing by, as she watched a giant blob demolish Undyne’s house. 

It stopped.

Frisk’s horrified gaze met the Mavrocyte’s eyes.

* * *

“whoa, whoah, wait a minute, so you’re telling me now something’s wrong with the  _ CORE _ ?” 

“It’s exactly what I said, trashbag! None of this has ever happened before so it’s the only thing that makes sense!”

“how do you know that now the void is involved, then?” he asked, suspicious.

“Because I know that the CORE gets its energy from there!” Flowey yelled.

At Sans’ look of disbelief, Flowey glowered. “There are a lot of things you don’t know about me,  _ skele-dumb _ . You’re not the only one who knows what’s what around here.”

Sans narrowed his eyes at him. He didn’t expect the flower to know that much, but he decided he wouldn’t count it as a problem. 

If what Flowey said was true, then Sans could only conclude that the Mavrocyte was a product of the void. They figured out what it was and why it was after them, but he failed to think too deeply about where it came from, but now it was clear. The loss of his teleportation powers, the loss of the RESET button, Flowey’s determination sticking their SOULs together, and finally, the Mavrocyte after only the three of them – these were things related to what he knew about the void, being the very fabric of time and space, as theorized by the man.

By Dr. Gaster…

**_This is the end._ **

Sans pinched the bridge of his nose. His head felt way too heavy all of a sudden. He hadn’t explicitly thought of his name in a long time. Now, everything he had ever learned from his past job was coming back to haunt him in a way nothing ever did before. 

“i was wrong, then.” Sweat dripped down his skull. “the issue isn’t SOUL-based. it’s  _ determination- _ based.”

Seeing his unease, even Flowey felt a sense of dread. “So, what does that mean?” 

Sans faced him, dead serious. And now, Flowey was undeniably terrified.

“it means that if we don’t find a way to fix this, then the underground doesn’t have long.”

A scream rang across all of Waterfall, followed by a roar that shook the very ground they stood on.

Sans and Flowey froze. It was back.

“ _ Kid! _ ” His eye glowed blue. Fearing the worst, Sans bolted it to where they heard her scream.

Flowey, despite trembling in fear, followed suit.


	10. Don't you just love science?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Naughty kids that don’t play fair get grounded.

Gerson sat quietly in his shop and set his tea down on the table.

Then he heard a series of loud thuds from a distance. He scratched his head, as his tea made ripples in his cup.

“Eh?” He bent over and inspected it with a close eye. Indeed, this cup of tea was trembling. Gerson chanced a glance out of his shop’s window and heard the noises of rocks breaking against a heavy force getting louder to his right.

He narrowed his eyes in that direction – his old age had impaired his once good eyesight at some point – so with the distance he was able to make out some tiny blue and pink figure sprinting away from what looked like a giant black blob that struggled breaking through the narrow pathway with its size. Gerson heard panting when his eyes finally adjusted and saw clearly the human girl running away from…

“Didn’t think I’d see something _that_ interesting anymore,” he murmured, completely stoked. 

Gerson’s eyes followed her as she zipped past him faster than he’d seen anyone go in all his years of living. 

When her scream faded away, he tried to look at what was after her, but yelped, pulling his head back into the shop when it came just as fast as her. His startled eyes – now the only part of his head sticking out of his shell – followed the direction they ran to.

“I do believe I’m getting too old, now…” Gerson said, moaning now that he’d turn into a woeful old man. 

Not twenty seconds later, something else speeded down the same path. He was only able to see it for an instant, but it looked like a familiar skeleton monster and a flower on top of a dragon-like head.

Gerson took a moment to find his composure. He looked at his tea with suspicion, took it from the table, and poured it on the ground. 

* * *

“Run! Go! _Get_ _out of here!”_ Frisk yelled to all the Monsters in her path.

They shouted in their panic, jumping out of the way once they saw the giant black beast wildly pursuing her.

Aaron and Woshua were talking on the bridge until they heard something loud that seemed to be coming their way and a few high-pitched yelps along with it.

“What the hell is tha – AH!” Aaron didn’t get to finish since Frisk pushed him and Woshua out of the way and they splashed into the water.

“Sorry, guys!”

She heard a faint “We’re alright!” as she jumped over the water .

Frisk dared to look back and see if there were any other Monsters in danger, but regretted it when all she saw was the Mavrocyte’s frightful form right at her tail.

A squeal escaped her throat, smiling and crying in frightened hysteria. She forced her legs to run faster until they felt like they were burning.

Frisk jumped from side to side, grunting, hopping away at the last second at its every attempt to grab her. 

Her breaths were coming shorter, dark spots invading her vision. She grit her teeth. This was making her tired quicker than she’d hoped. 

She sprinted to the first lantern maze, but her breath caught in her throat when none of the mushrooms were illuminated.

Everything was dark, and she just trapped herself in it. 

Frisk gasped. Turning, the last thing she saw was the monster’s piercing white lights as it bared its bottomless pit of a mouth open – darker than even the maze around her, as it closed in on her.

Her eyes lost in the abyss before her, Frisk couldn’t even scream.

A faint blue light came through between its eyes. Frisk blinked, snapping out of her daze, and jumped away as a bright blue blast struck through the Mavrocyte.

Frisk tumbled to the ground, putting her arms over her head as rocks and crystals flew from the wall the gaster blaster destroyed. She gasped – if she reacted a second later, she would have been scorched.

She sat up and had to cover her eyes from the light coming from Sans’ repeated attacks of beams and bones on the Mavrocyte, keeping it down.

Flowey popped out in front of her, looking all but pleased with her. “Get off the dirt, stinkin’ human! You’ll get blasted from here!”

She nodded frantically and pushed herself up, backing away with Flowey, but unable to tear her gaze from the battle.

The Mavrocyte was recovering from every attack quickly, even when Sans did all he could to rob it from the time to. Panic rose within Frisk – Sans didn’t stop, but she could already see him panting heavily.

She turned to Flowey, who had gone back a few steps farther than her, his stem shaking despite his earlier attitude.

Sans flew in on his blaster and put himself between them and the Mavrocyte. He looked at them over his shoulder – his left eye aglow.

“go! head for the exit! i’ll deal with this!”

Frisk hesitated to move. “But Sans–!”

“don’t worry, kid! it won’t get rid of me that easily!” he said, then faced their opponent head-on. Two more gaster blasters appeared next to him.

“go, _now_!” He put up a barrier of bones between him and them and shot away on his blaster.

“Sans–!” Frisk cried, but vines pulled her back, forcing her to turn the other way.

Flowey latched onto her shoulder as soon as he could and pushed her to run.

Sans checked to make sure they were gone before glaring back at the nightmarish creature.

He blasted it once, twice, thrice – evading its attempts at grabbing him until he flew high above its reach. 

Sans studied it closely. It could, no less, be described as a giant black blob, and acted just like the Mavrocyte cells they found a long time ago – shaping itself accordingly to do what it must, and that was to eat. Sans inched a bit further when it thinned itself to reach for him. 

His work on the creation of the CORE was paying off when he finally noticed the similarities of this creature’s nature with the void’s – especially with its voracity. And if this really was a product of it, then Sans knew there was only one place he had a chance of locking it in.

“alright you big, disgusting freak of nature.” He smirked, summoning a long bone into his hands. “i can’t give you a bad time, but how does some _play_ time sound?”

His pinpricks darted to all sides of the room, until they landed on his fastest possible exit, right in the corner of the room past the Mavrocyte, where light entered in a hole big enough for him. His left eye grew fiery once more and he grinned.

“fetch!” He hurled the bone straight towards it. With no hesitation, the Mavrocyte devoured it.

Sans flew over to the hole and got out of there.

It roared after him in its pursuit.

Sans stifled a panicked yell when it crawled to him faster than he expected, throwing as many bones as he can if only to give him a split second more of a head start.

The Monsters of Waterfall that witnessed what happened earlier were forced to step out of the way again, what with Sans now yelling “outta the way!” while throwing bones at the same thing that chased Frisk.

Shyren’s concert audience had to scatter, yelping and screeching away into hiding because they couldn’t even stand long enough to wonder about anything. Sans used his magic to carry some of them out to safety, but winced when he accidentally made a moldsmal splatter to the wall. 

“ooh…” He hoped he could apologize for it later. 

Meanwhile, Aaron helped pull Woshua up from the water – the poor Monster couldn’t swim well – and managed to get him back on the bridge. No word of thanks could have been exchanged though, as a blue magic enveloped the both of them. They yowled as they were flung to opposite directions by an incredible force.

Sans dashed through the bridge shortly after, the water around it splashing on the creature that tailed him.

* * *

“Aaah,” Gerson sighed in satisfaction as he prepared another Sea Tea for himself – hoping this time it wouldn’t make him see anything too freaky anymore.

He set it on the table, and took it in his hands, ready to drink.

Until Sans came flying through and swiped it from him.

He might have heard a quick “thanks, gerry!” before he disappeared. 

The turtle Monster was caught off-guard for the third time that day, but knew better to step back from his shop window as the skeleton’s pursuant followed in its bulky giant weight.

The poor old Monster’s wares came falling from their shelves as soon as the monstrosity passed, and even destroyed his door.

Gerson looked around at his now unsellable merchandise.

“I think this is a sign that I should finally retire…”

* * *

Sans sipped on the Sea Tea and threw the cup back – smirking when it hit his assailant, distracting it.

With a burst of speed, he was now near his destination. He only needed to hold out a little longer and he could test if his theory was right. There was probably an 85% chance it was, so he was willing to screw it.

He made it past the glowing lake area, careful enough to use his magic to move the bird that carried people over a disproportionately small gap gently onto the water. He made a relieved sigh when it peacefully swam away.

And even better, the Mavrocyte got caught in the disproportionately small gap. 

It writhed about in an attempt to pull itself out and swim through, but there was barely any space for it to. All it did was splash around in one place.

At his luck, Sans’ smile stretched wider. 

He arrived at his stop, the hall with the echo flower and the table with crystallized cheese.

His eyes were trained on the wall in between them. He may or may not have shown Frisk this before, but from what he knew, the only one aware of the existence of this room was him.

Placing his hand against the wall, his left eye glowed and with a grunt he pushed against it.

There was a loud _BANG!_ Against his hand that made Sans’ slippers skid back.

He grinned – the grey door had appeared. The door to The Room where he once found The Man.

Sans turned – the Mavrocyte got out just in time. He whistled, as if it were a dog. 

“over here, you heaping pile of gunge!” he called. It growled back.

“playtime’s over.” He opened the door and winked, pointing his thumb to himself. “it’s snack time now, ya dingus.”

Sans slipped into the room. The Mavrocyte and it followed him inside like a starving coyote.

It paused, met with a room that was all just grey.

In its confusion, Sans floated high above it on a blaster. Though already drained, he raised up another set of bones, lined up from all its sides, and made them come down to spear right through it. The Mavrocyte released an outcry that would have made ears bleed as each bone nailed it down, tainting the grey room with black splotches. 

Sans smirked, getting off the blaster. “sorry buddy, no snacks for you. naughty kids that don’t play fair get _grounded_.”

He winked but immediately turned tail before it could try to get him.

Another bellow came from it as Sans quickly left, slamming the door shut, but it wouldn’t go all the way. When he looked, a part of the Mavrocyte had stuck between the doorway.

Panicked, he tried using all of his body weight by pressing his back against the door to stop it from getting out. 

“come on…!” He summoned bones from the ground to push the door back. But it still wasn’t enough. He called out for two of his gaster blasters to help him.

“Hnnngh!” Planting his feet firmly against their snouts, he grit his teeth and pushed back with all the force he could muster, and they pushed with him.

He cracked his left eye open, still glowing blue, and saw that it was nearly closed. He was starting to feel sick but he needed to just push a little harder.

So he forced himself to envelop the door with his magic and pushed back again. But he had to be careful, lest he break it and make all of this meaningless.

“g-goddamn it…” he choked out. He was almost there, but there was still just one part of this black monster sticking out from the bottom of the door, and his energy was running out.

He never thought he’d wish he joined Papyrus during his body-building workouts with Undyne.

“maybe then, i’d be able to close _this damn door_!” he slammed his fist on it, and going beyond his limit, he summoned another gaster blaster. It was much smaller than usual, but it was what was gonna save his life. 

Sweat dripped down his skull like rain as his mind went to work and numbers came into play. 

If he could shoot against the wall with the right amount of impulse, then he could use the momentum from it to help him push this door closed without destroying it. He only had enough power for one shot at this. He had to treat it delicately. If he miscalculated it would be game over. 

Sans, now more than ever, was thankful that he was a physicist. 

A flex of his fingers, and the miniature gaster blaster spit out a small, fast, and powerful blast against the wall.

_BAM!_

Sans was pushed back by the resulting force. He growled as he struggled against it, fighting to keep balance, and the door slammed shut.

The sound of a metal rang across the room, all the way through the halls to the next one.

His heaved breaths came after, hitched, as Sans had his back against the door, still tense for those next few moments. He almost couldn’t believe that worked.

Relief gradually seeping in, making him feel just how exhausted he was, all the bones and blasters disappeared. Sans slid down, slumped forward, and crashed to the ground.

“Ugh…” he groaned, never so bone-tired in his life. He could barely even move his arms. There was nothing more that he wanted than to call it a day right then, but that wasn’t something he could afford.

Though he did want to use a few minutes to take what he called a well-deserved, legally required break.

He groaned again, his head throbbing. “what i’d give for a career change from lazybones to ‘no bones about it’…”

A mouse then came out from the hole near the crystallized cheese. It stopped on its way when it saw the skeleton Monster sprawled on the floor, looking at him.

“you,” he said. The mouse tilted its head. Sans gestured to the door with his pinpricks.

“don’t. open. that.” 

* * *

After making it out of the darkening lantern room, Flowey and Frisk ran towards the long bridge, now at the last room before the cave towards Hotland.

Even now that they were distanced from the action, Frisk’s feet tapped loudly on the wooden floorboards, refusing to slow down. Flowey also made sure she didn’t. 

“Okay, just keep following this path and we should be able to – AAAAHHHH!”

“WAAAAHHHHH!”

A large, black, slime-like monstrosity had broken through the wood from the bottom of the bridge and had Flowey and Frisk shrieking in fright.

“Back! Back! Back! Back! Back!” Flowey screamed. Gagging from his hold, Frisk didn’t have much of a choice than to be dragged away.

“I-is that…?” her voice came out choked, eyes landing on the hole it crashed from.

Flowey whipped his leaves down and cried, “You’ve gotta be kidding me!”

Frisk gasped for breath, Flowey finally loosening his grip to focus on their obstruction.

He shot some pellets at it, but they bounced off it like a trampoline, scattering all over the place and falling off the bridge. Flinching, he summoned vines to hold it down with all his might, gritting his teeth. Every attempt to rip it apart failed, no matter how much effort he was putting into it.

Flowey screamed when it tried to swallow up his vines in its mass of goop, and immediately retracted his attack, making Frisk stumble backward.

Agitated, Flowey wrapped himself tighter around her arm, to the point Frisk felt like he put a complete stop to her blood flow.

Frisk held Flowey where he latched onto her. “W-what do we do?”

Flowey growled. “How should I know?! I still blame _you_ for all this! _You_ think of something!”

Frisk pursed her lips, a nervous sweat making the back of her neck feel cold. Now studying the creature though, she raised her eyebrows. That was odd. It didn’t look like what they had encountered before. Only a portion of it.

Frisk didn’t think that was possible, until her eyes traveled down, where black goop stuck to the rocks going up from the dark chasm below them.

This must have been where the Mavrocyte came up from after Sans took it down last time. It probably wasn’t able to bring the rest of its deformed body with it out of there, and so it left a fraction of itself here.

Frisk’s brows knitted, trying to figure something out. It didn’t look like it was going to truly eat them up but it did block the way, and she was sure she didn’t want to have to go through it with brute force lest the worst come to them. On top of that, the Mavrocyte left a huge gap on the bridge that would be impossible to jump over.

Her eyes traveled to the rock formations surrounding them, and followed their length as they extended towards the ceiling. 

A moment later, Frisk got an idea. “Flowey, you’re the type of flower with thorns, right?”

“ _What_ ?!” He whipped his head to her. “ _That’s_ your concern right now?! Hey, what are you – !” 

His outrage at Frisk cupping his face was cut off when she made him look up. His angry expression fell when he found stalactites of different sizes and lengths, filling the ceiling all the way to the other side of the bridge.

“Oh…” He gulped, a sense of dread forming in him. He now understood what she wanted him to do.

“Can you do it?” 

Flowey’s eyes darted between her and the ceiling multiple times. “…Well, I’m first going to need a detailed plan for that.”

Frisk puffed her cheeks. “Okay.”

She put Flowey down and took a few steps forward, keeping wary of the black blob in front of her. It wasn’t exactly moving at an alarming pace, but with the way it stretched to their direction like they were a magnet was enough to make her shudder. She bent down, careful not to get too close, ready for any quick escape. 

Frisk scanned the rocks and examined the distance between them and the other side of the bridge. She may not be a physics expert, but she did have a good sense of it. Her survival down here counted on it. 

Game plan formed, Frisk smirked. She turned her heel with a skip in her step back to Flowey.

“That one, that one, then that one,” she instructed, pointing at three stalactites.

Flowey gaped at the rocks, then to Frisk, who gave him a thumbs up of supposed reassurance.

Yeah. They were going to die.

* * *

“Ready?”

“You better make sure this works.”

They faced forward, Flowey wearing a deep frown and Frisk’s face stretched with a confident grin. Both fixed their eyes on the creature with a determined glare.

“On the count of three,”

Flowey’s vines coiled around both of her arms. Frisk bent her body forward, feet ready to bolt for it.

“One,” Flowey’s grip tightened. 

“Two…” She boosted herself forward and jumped high off the wood.

“ _Three_!”

A swish sound from either side of Frisk’s face came as Flowey threw his vines long enough to reach for the first stalactite, wrapping around its girth tightly. With Flowey’s strong grip and the aid of his thorns, his vines stuck securely to the rocks. They shot up into the air and swung forward.

“Whoa!” Frisk yipped at the surge of force bringing both of them up.

Feeling them steady as they reached the highest point, Frisk yelled again, “Next one!”

Flowey grunted in his struggle, but he managed to catch the next stalactite in his hold just as they descended. Gritting his teeth, he forced himself to keep his hold as tight as possible until they swung up again.

“Woo! _Yeah_!” Frisk cheered. The feeling of flight was surreal, and despite this being a simple plan to get from one point to another to avoid uncertain death, she was so thrilled she couldn’t help a hearty laugh. Much to Flowey’s disgruntlement. She was the only one enjoying this.

“Last one!”

“Hnnnggghhh!” Flowey growled and slung his vines up on the last stalactite. But then, he was suddenly exhausted. _Utterly_ exhausted, like whatever power he had was instantly drained, overcoming him with extreme drowsiness.

“Huh…?” His head throbbed out of nowhere, his body feeling numb and weak. Despite his confusion, he couldn’t fight to stay awake enough to figure anything out.

Flowey’s eyes drooped, and he fell unconscious.

His vines loosened their hold on the stalactite and slid off.

Frisk felt the drop, and looked over her shoulder. “Flowey?” 

Finding him limp and with his eyes shut, Frisk’s heart stopped. 

“ _Flowey!_ ” she screamed at the top of her lungs, now that they were plummeting down, too short of making it to the other side.

Frisk felt her body go numb momentarily, but she refused to let this be.

“Argh!” Desperate to save them, she bent forward. Frisk grabbed the knife that she kept from her encounter with the Mad Dummy and maneuvered herself closer to the wall of the edge. They weren’t going to land on their desired ground, but if they were trajected to crash on the wall just below it then better make use of what little advantage it gave.

Bracing herself for the impact, she dug the knife into the wall of soil and rocks with all the force she could muster.

Frisk gritted her teeth as they skidded down, knife deep in the soil and her feet slewing against rocks and dirt. Tiny pebbles and patches of earth flew off and dirtied her face, but she refused to let her strength waver, keeping her grip so tight her fingers ached. She was lucky all those timelines where she had to fight gave her a boost in physical power. She was almost thankful.

Finally, the speed of their descent slowed, and they came to a complete stop when the knife hit a boulder, just before they got swallowed up in darkness. Quickly, she put her feet on a stable position above some rocks to support her weight. She couldn’t afford to have that knife giving up on her. 

Frisk panted, still shaken. She needed to take a moment to believe that they survived that.

Feeling something slide off her shoulders, Frisk gasped, “Flowey!”

She grabbed onto his stem just in time, his limp body now suspended before the blackness awaiting at the bottom. Nonetheless, Frisk breathed in relief. What mattered most was that they were both still alive. That always meant there was a chance to get out of this. She looked up, squinting when the light hit her face. Seeing the distance they had to climb to get out of this, there was no way she could do that alone.

Frisk released another breath to calm her nerves, eyes on Flowey’s droopy form.

Whatever happened to him all of a sudden confused her, but she surmised it had to do with the effect of Sans and his SOULs on each other. After all, she knew full well how exhausted the skeleton could get after a challenging fight. That must have been the case now.

“Flowey,” she called softly, trying to shake him awake. “Flowey, wake up.”

Not even a squirm, but she had to keep trying.

Frisk looked up. “Somebody! Help!”

There was no answer.

“Is anybody there?” She wasn’t sure who she was really calling at the time. It didn’t matter, because no one responded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for the raimi meme reference I couldn't resist


	11. That Name / Tra la la, Monsters, Humans, Flowers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trio finally became a trio

A muffled voice creeped into his consciousness.

_‘Papyrus never asks because he cares about what you feel, Sans. I wish you’d at least give him the chance to know what those feelings are.’_

Deep inside the confines of his mind, it called forth a memory. 

“What did you wish for, Chara?” Asriel came upon the question when he noticed that his best friend, too, was staring up at the twinkling lights above their heads.

The breeze was cool and it smelled of wet soil after rain, a new and serene sensation for the boys. Waterfall wasn’t where they often spent their time together. The residents of the place preferred the quiet over their usual rowdy and loud antics. But today was an off-day for both of them. So after putting an umbrella over the head of a statue, they simply sat by the glowing blue lake while waiting for any of their parents to call them back home.

“Wish? Please,” Chara scoffed, leaning back on his hands. “First of all, these aren’t stars, Azzie. They’re rocks. Besides that, I don’t think that baseless stuff actually does anything.”

Asriel pouted. “Hey, it’s not like I don’t catch you making wishes whenever mom makes you a cake for your birthday!”

“We’ve gone over this, don’t call it a birthday. It’s just the day I fell here. I don’t know when I was born…” His eyes wandered to the distance. The topic of his birth always seemed to darken his mood.

So the younger boy put on a playful grin. “But you aren’t denying it.”

Chara sighed, exasperated. He laid down, crossing his arms to pillow his head. 

Asriel looked over to him, still curious. “Well?”

“I wished I didn’t have to deal with the nosiest crybaby in the planet.”

“Chara, be serious!” Asriel whined. 

Chara rolled his eyes. “How much can it change, anyway?”

His words made Asriel falter.

This happened on occasion – Asriel often talked of dreams and fantasies, but Chara always brought him back down to earth (more accurately, under it). He never blamed his human friend for his bluntness, no matter how tactless at times. It allowed Asriel to be a bit more contemplative rather than just a dreamer. 

The prince found his gaze back on the gems above them. To Asriel, the scene was mesmerizing. He’d lived all his life with these, yet they never failed to bring wonder to his eyes. But Chara has seen the real deal, it may be why he was so unimpressed. It made Asriel think…

“Like you said, these are rocks...just rocks.” Unknowingly, the corners of Asriel’s lips curved up. “But I say they’re worth wishing on, don’t you think?”

He tucked his knees close. “My wish is…I wish these rocks could one day show me the stars.” 

He didn’t know it, but Chara noticed the melancholy in his voice, and the longing held in his upturned gaze.

Asriel’s fingers curled around each other. “One day, I want to remember them while I’m looking at the real thing.”

There was a moment of quiet shared, the words flowing between them much like the sound of the distant current. On the outside, it was empty, but to the two children, neither knew this moment held all meaning to the rest of their lives.

Chara broke the silence with a short chuckle. “Hah, that’s probably the wish of every single Monster in the Underground.”

In spite of the tease, Asriel broke into a grin. “It’s the truth, though!”

“I know. I’m just saying it’s unoriginal.” Chara got up, properly sitting next to him. “But…” 

When Asriel turned to him, Chara smiled, for once not teasing. 

“I can get behind a wish like that.”

Asriel returned it. “I knew you would.”

**_YOU IDIOT_ **

“What’s the matter with you? I told you, stop crying…”

Heavy pants broke in between Chara’s words, but it was Asriel at the time that couldn’t breathe.

In his trembling hands he held the broken pieces of a teacup he picked up earlier, when he found his best friend coughing and hacking on the floor.

It smelled like buttercups.

 _Why?_ Asriel wanted to scream, but the word never left his throat, clogged in his sobs.

This had been the plan, after all. But looking at his best friend now — the light of life flickering out of faded red — nothing should have been worth it. But it was already too late. 

Beyond the clouds of white light in the mist in his eyes, Chara’s calloused hand reached for his.

“You...should be...smiling.” Pale, frail fingers tightened around Asriel’s wrist, as if to give him some semblance of comfort.

“Aren’t you excited, Azzie?” He sweat, struggling to even make his words coherent, as Chara gave his last genuine smile _._

 _“You’re going to be free._ ”

Then, their hands were gone. His had become leaves now, as he looked over the edge. 

_There’s no point living in a world without love. Not in a world without you…_

He grinned wide, laughing in discordant rhythms, as his tears were lost before even reaching the lava.

He jumped.

His eyes opened again, and there was a rectangular black box.

Written on it was the word ‘RESET’. He pushed it once. 

Then twice, then thrice, until he couldn’t keep count anymore. 

Reset after reset, he’d tell everyone the same thing.

“Howdy, I’m Flowey the flower!”

_RESET_

“I’m Flowey the flower!”

_RESET_

“Flowey the flower!”

_RESET_

**“** **_FLoWEy tHe FLowEr!_ ** **”**

Shrill cackles like the cry of a thousand crows cut through the dark with the screams of his victims. It didn’t matter though. He had nothing to feel about that even if he wanted to.

So he just kept laughing.

_You’ve got a SICK sense of humor, you know that?_

_._

_._

_._

_._

_._

_“…el! …riel!”_

.

.

.

.

.

_“Asriel!”_

Flowey’s eyes opened slowly, the spin of his head making him see in blurred images for the next few moments. 

But once he caught a glimpse of the chasm facing him, he shrieked.

Frisk struggled to keep them from falling off the wall when he thrashed about. “Wait – sto – calm down!”

But he wouldn’t stop screaming – as if afraid of everything. Hysterical and delirious like he’d woke up from a terrible nightmare. Only, this looked much worse.

Whatever he saw, she didn’t know. But they would fall to their doom if she did nothing. 

“Hey, _hey_. We can get out of this,” she tried coaxing. “But we’re going to need to work together, okay? So –”

“ _No._ ” His tone was bilious. “No we _can’t!_ Just – I can’t take this anymore! Just die and load already!”

Frisk’s heart raced. She shook her head and yelled, “Loading isn’t going to take you with me, Flowey! You have determination! You’ll _die_ !” _Both of you will!_ – but she figured saying that wouldn’t help.

Loading meant she would get to go back to her own SAVE point. Other Monsters would be affected by her decision, but Flowey has never been. And this time, neither will Sans.

They die, and it’s game over.

“So _what_ ?!” he screamed, his glare hateful. “I don’t care anymore! It’ll be better than all of _this_ ! It’ll be better than _anything_ and _everything_!”

He couldn’t believe it, but it hurt. It hurt _so bad_.

Every waking moment, he tried not to think about all this – tried to destroy every last remnant so he never had to face the truth that he’d led a miserable excuse of a life.

But now, he just wanted to scream into the crevasse.

He hated pity. Especially when it came from _himself._

At his relentless flailing, Frisk felt the knife wobble in its place. They slid down once and she gasped.

“Stop it!” she pleaded, desperation in her voice. 

“ _You_ stop it!” he cried, “I’m sick of playing games with you! I’m sick of _you_ ! Just go away already and leave _me alone_!”

He squirmed with every intention of getting them both to fall. Flowey didn’t care anymore. Frisk could load anytime. She could fix whatever needed to be fixed. She could save herself by crossing the barrier on her own. She wouldn’t have the capacity to come back anymore either way.

 _Just let this end in the same pattern everything else did._

“Stop it, _please_!” Frisk begged.

“Frisk, _please_ !” he finally said her name, the anger vanishing, left with only the anguish he truly felt. “Don’t you have anything _better_ to do?!”

“No, I **_don’t_ **!” 

Frisk yelled with so much force her voice broke. And it was the slap that woke him up. 

He met Frisk’s determined yet grave expression, grip around him growing even tighter. Her other arm must have been aching, but golden eyes were ablaze, betraying any pain as she looked at him.

 _Really_ looked at him.

“I _can’t_ let you go! And I won’t _ever_ again!” she yelled. 

Her tone grew soft. The flare in her eyes was still there, but along with it, there was heartache.

“Please…” she said, slowly, “ _Asriel_.”

Flowey paused. There was that name again. _That name_ that held all his misery, said in the most tender and compassionate of voices.

It made him falter.

He really shouldn’t listen.

He shouldn’t even be affected.

After all, he was supposed to be soulless.

Yet the truth was he really _didn’t_ want her to let go.

Not now, not in the last timeline, and probably not in all the other times she did.

But there were just too many barriers between him and what he wanted.

Frisk cried in pain. 

Flowey jolted back to reality when Frisk’s grip wavered, and the knife came off.

He stretched out his vines to latch onto the top of the wall. In one fast motion, he hoisted the both of them up. 

They stumbled onto the hard, flat ground, panting in heavy beats.

Frisk looked to the broken half of the bridge, where the fraction of the Mavrocyte was, and finally breathed. That could have ended in a hundred unwanted ways, but they were safely on the other side now.

“I told you not to call me by that name…” 

Frisk turned. Whatever had him thrashing and screaming not a minute ago, it was gone now. A forest fire put out like a candle. But Flowey had his back towards her, stem bent low, like he wilted. 

“…You didn’t let me fall even if I did, though.” 

She didn’t see, but her words startled him, for it was like she said that was something Flowey would’ve done. Not Asriel.

But he couldn’t bother to come up with any response – hateful or not. It was all just too taxing at the moment.

Frisk stood up, her hand shuffling in her pocket for something. “Here.”

Flowey frowned, grumpy as always, but he didn’t scream, cry, or tell her to back off when she fed him a Crab Apple. 

He wasn’t feeling up to it at the moment.

* * *

Sans blinked awake. He didn’t even notice he napped. Standing, he stretched, bent his spine, and wiggled his joints. Multiple cracking sounds resonated through the empty room.

“aahh,” one more satisfying crack, and a relaxed smile finished it off. “that feels much better,”

Now without the threat of imminent doom looming over him, he relished in his stroll on his way to where Frisk and Flowey headed.

He caught them on the other side of what once was a bridge, conversing in hushed voices.

Frisk was the first to notice him. With a gleeful smile, she stood and waved. “Sans!”

“what happened there?” He pointed to the destruction between them.

“We, uh, ran into a major problem.” She chuckled awkwardly.

“oh…” Sans said once he saw what she was referring to. Making no fuss, he blasted it down. He watched with a smile as black goop and chunks of wood disappeared into the darkness. As soon as a loud, distant crash was heard, he winked at them.

“it is now a _minor_ problem.” He chuckled as he flew over to them on the same blaster.

Frisk’s eyes followed him until he made it to the spot next to her. 

“Glad you made it, Sans.” She beamed. 

“course i did, kiddo. i told you, you can’t get rid of me that easily.” As Frisk giggled, he caught Flowey’s grouchy expression over her shoulder. Sans smirked.

“weed.”

“Smiley Trashbag.” 

Frisk then asked, “What did you do?” 

“now that we have an idea of what it is, i figured that i could lock it in The Room. we just have to keep it in there until we fix this mess. consider the mavrocyte problemo solved, for now at least.” As he explained, Sans put up some bones to make for what was lost on the wooden bridge. It would be dangerous for anyone to cross at the state it was in.

Uneasy, Flowey looked down to the chasm, lips curling in an anxious smile. “H-how sure are you that it’s gonna hold it for long?”

“the room is an extension of the CORE. i wouldn’t worry… _that_ much,” Sans replied, finished with his bridge repair. 

“I don’t see how that explains anything…” Frisk’s eyebrows scrunched together.

Sans couldn’t stifle his groan then, rubbing his face. “oh _come on_ , do you want me to give you a crash course of twenty years’ worth of intensive quantum physics research right now?”

Frisk and Flowey exchanged a look, wide-eyed and mouths shut.

“didn’t think so.” 

* * *

**_RING RING_ **

“HELLO? OH, HI HUMAN!

WHERE’D YOU SUDDENLY RUN OFF TO? …ME AND UNDYNE? WELL, YOU WERE ALL TAKING QUITE LONG SO UNDYNE DECIDED WE SHOULD HEAD TO SNOWDIN FOR ANOTHER TRAINING SESSION! IT WAS THE COOLEST, AS USUAL. WE’RE TAKING A BREAK RIGHT NOW. UNDYNE’S BUSY MAKING THE TWO OF US SOME GOLDEN FLOWER TEA. ME? I’M TRYING TO FIND A DECENT SHOW TO WATCH ON TV…” 

Papyrus narrowed his eyes at the screen that read ‘BREAKING NEWS: ALL Mettaton shows **CANCELLED TODAY?!’**

He cringed. “BUT I DON’T THINK I’LL FIND ANY OTHER CHANNEL RIGHT NOW OTHER THAN ‘SNOWDRAKE’S PUN-TASTIC STAND-UP COMEDY’…” 

Frisk’s giggle came through the phone. 

“SO WHAT WILL YOU BE UP TO? UH-HUH…OH, SOUNDS COOL! …REALLY?! WOWIE! I’LL TAKE YOUR WORD FOR IT! THANK YOU, HUMAN! UNDYNE, LISTEN!” was the last thing they heard before Frisk dropped the call.

The trio simultaneously exhaled.

Flowey grimaced as if nauseous. “Redecorating holiday? Is that really the best you could think of?”

“eh, it’ll keep them in snowdin as long as possible. i was just a little confused when you said we were gonna sell hotdogs to buy the new decors.” Sans looked at Frisk.

“It should keep him from worrying about where you are.” Frisk smiled and gave a tiny shrug.

Flowey raised his eyebrow at them. “You both realize you’re just lying to them again, right?

Sans and Frisk stared at one another, casting their gazes down. Flowey was right, after all. Even if it was for a good cause, that didn’t make the means to make it happen any better.

“But egh, not like we’ll be doing anyone favors by telling them,” Flowey said. If he could shrug then he would have. “What are we waiting for?”

Frisk gave him a small, appreciative smile before turning to Sans, now serious.

“So what’s this about the Underground not having long?”

“the problem is bigger than we initially thought.” Sans said, “long story short, we failed to look at the _CORE_ of the issue.”

Before Frisk or Flowey could say anything, Sans turned his heel, walking more briskly than was characteristic of him.

“anyway, chop-chop team. now that un _dyne_ is now un _problematic_ , we could finally speed this up.” 

“Wait, Sans.” Frisk jogged to catch up. “What’s going on?”

“i’ll explain on the way. right now, we need to pay alphys a visit. there’s something wrong with her.”

Frisk nodded. She looked back to see Flowey trying to catch up with them, though the way he moved was lackadaisical. There was still a giant weight he carried.

She offered her arm to him once more, smiling.

Flowey scowled at her, but it lacked the same vigor he usually displayed. Much like himself, he turned away, but this time his vines slowly wrapped around her arm.

Frisk’s eyes lit up, but she said nothing. Flowey didn’t show it, but he was grateful for it.

“ok, monsters, humans, and flowers,” Sans said, leading the two. Flowey rested on Frisk’s shoulder as she followed right behind him. “we got a total of three things on our plate. one, this sticky SOUL hullabaloo. two, destroying the Mavrocyte. and three, getting everyone the hell out of here once and for all.” 

Frisk inhaled. “This is going to be…”

“Painful.”

“Exciting.” 

Flowey and Frisk said, respectively, at the same time. 

“now the next question is – what are our chances for success? zero? utterly hopeless? _void?_ ” Sans chuckled.

Looking at their vacant faces, he added, “or about 12%?”

“Uhm…about 12%?” Frisk shrugged, the optimism in her voice as shaky as her grin.

“eh, i guess.” Sans shrugged and turned to lead the way again. 

Flowey sighed. “How reassuring.”


	12. Another Medium

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “but that’s all just a theory.” An UNDERTALE theory

“Dark, darker, yet darker. The darkness keeps growing. The shadows, cutting deeper. Photon readings, negative. This next experiment…seems very…very… _interesting_.”

The Monster in the black-clad garments paused, gazing upon the readings on his monitors, then down to the crevice upon which he began to build his greatest creation. 

“What do you two think?” He turned around.

He was met with the curious eyes of two little boys, Monster and human, wearing green, striped sweaters.

“So you need…determination?” the twelve-year-old human asked.

“Precisely.” He nodded. “It is another medium that I may use in order to finally gain control of this power.” 

The younger Prince scrunched his brows. “How is he supposed to give you that, Doctor Gaster?”

“A few pints of blood would suffice, I believe,” Gaster said, holding up a large injector that looked more like a gun than he probably intended it to be. A long rubber pipe connected it to his monitor.

Asriel gulped. _A few?_

“Oh no, you don’t!” Toriel interjected. “I’ll not have you poking any of your _vile_ instruments in my child! I won’t allow this!” She stomped from behind her children, becoming a barrier between them, and who she often called a lunatic scientist.

“My Lady, please calm down.” Gaster kept his composure. “It will hurt but I assure you he will survive.”

As the intensity in Toriel’s stink eye increased, behind her, Asgore made silent gestures, pleading him to amend his words because that had to be the worst thing he could say to a mother.

But Gaster only raised his browbone.

Minutes later, as Asgore and Gaster desperately tried to placate the Queen who threatened to burn everything he’s ever created, Chara took the instrument from the table, rolled up his sleeve, and jabbed it into his arm. 

Toriel gasped horrendously as everyone else recoiled. That looked _and_ sounded painful, but the human boy gave no reaction as red liquid traveled up the pipe and into the strange machine. 

As soon as he filled the injector, he removed it from his arm with one swift move. The eyes of all Monsters followed the trail of blood that oozed from his wound as if it was the most bizarre thing on the planet.

“Will this be enough? Or do you want more?” he asked, indifferent. They replied with only their slack jawed expressions for a while until Gaster stepped forward.

“Are you…willing to give me more?” He put his index fingers together, as if coy. The gesture so out of character, Asgore recovered from his shock, wondering what just happened to him.

“ _Absolutely not!”_ Toriel yelled.

“Sure,” Chara said.

Toriel wanted to faint, but right as Asgore was going to help her with that, she grabbed him by his collar. 

“I _told_ you we shouldn’t have agreed to bringing them here!”

As his parents got into another squabble, Asriel gave his attention to his best friend. “Chara, a-are you sure about this?”

Chara grinned snidely. “What? Think I can’t take some needle?”

 _I wouldn’t call that ‘some’ needle._ Asriel swallowed. “I’m just a little worried you might go overboard…doesn’t it…hurt?” he asked. He didn’t know much about how Humans and their physical bodies worked, but that did look terrifying.

Chara went silent and stared at him for a long, long time. 

Then he smirked. “Nope.”

* * *

_Hotland_

Sans, Frisk, and Flowey walked on the bridge towards Alphys’ laboratory.

“So Gaster successfully harnessed the void’s power using determination?” Frisk asked.

“yep.”

“Where’d he get it?”

“the first fallen human, apparently.”

Frisk paused in her steps. “…Oh.”

In his discomfort, Flowey kept his eyes on the lava. 

Frisk put her hand against her chin to think. “So after being able to use the void’s energy, he used it for the CORE to finally work. It all makes sense, actually. Since determination exploits the power of the void, it explains why Flowey and I were the only ones able to RESET, SAVE, and LOAD this entire time.”

“yep. the power over the fabric of time and space itself in both of your hands...at least for one of ya.” Sans glanced over his shoulder to wink at the flower and his little leaves.

“Scumbag,” Flowey said.

“heh, that one’s new.”

Flowey snarled at him. Sans just faced forward, pleased with himself.

“What I still don’t quite understand is,” Frisk flung her arms up, “Why is the RESET button gone? I get that what happened to you two was an error, and that’s why there’s a Mavrocyte trying to get rid of it, but it’s also after me. What caused _my_ error?” 

“not sure. it’s possible, though, that your ability to reset is only gone _because_ of the errors. the void’s unrest might be preventing anyone from messing with the timeline at the moment. who knows, maybe if we figure out how to separate the weed from me, you’ll be able to reset again.”

“Ah…” Her gaze trailed to the side. 

“but that’s all just a theory.” Sans waved it off.

By the time they made it to the end of the bridge, Frisk spoke again. “Here’s something we’ve always wondered though.” 

Sans turned, meeting their curious stares.

“Do _you_ have determination?” Frisk asked. 

He raised a browbone. “would i be alive if i did?”

“Then why can _you_ tell when something’s wrong with the timelines?” Flowey asked, not hiding his bitterness. He must have remembered the times he’d been forced to RESET by this skeleton’s meddling.

Frisk nodded. “And wouldn’t that connect well to your inability to teleport now? You did say time _and_ space. You’re the only Monster in the Underground I know that can do that…” 

Sans stared at them.

His mind wandered back to when he reached out to Gaster, and the explosions that came after.

A moment passed, and he shrugged.

“beats me.” He proceeded to the door to Alphys’ lab.

Flowey and Frisk looked at each other. They both knew, at that moment, it was highly likely Sans had determination too. Why he had to lie was unclear, but none of them were too willing to pry for an answer. If he didn’t think it was important enough to mention, then it was probably for the best. 

As soon as the three entered Alphys’ lab, they came across what looked less like a laboratory and more like the aftermath of a hurricane. 

The lights were out. Everything usually found sitting atop her desk was cluttered all over the floor. Broken ceramic, and papers that were either crumpled or ripped to shreds were scattered everywhere. Her trash bin had toppled over, her refrigerator was left open, and there were books that must have been thrown from the second floor, found in sorry states all over the place.

“whoa. looks like we weren’t the only ones having a terrible day,” Sans said.

The trio stepped inside, Sans leading the way with a glowing blue bone hovering above his hand.

Even with the light, Frisk stayed careful with her steps. The mess hardly gave her any free space to walk on.

The giant monitor that used to watch her actions was turned off, and so were the moving walkways. The only other source of light came from Alphys’ monitor – flickering as incomprehensible coded language filled it endlessly.

A sense of foreboding filled Frisk. This change of scenery to a place she’d seen a thousand times put her on edge and in all the wrong ways. 

She gulped, clasping her fingers together. “You think she’s…okay?”

“okay as in alive, most probably,” Sans replied. “okay in every other aspect of the word? absolutely not. and we’re gonna find out why.”

He looked at the monitor for a moment, like there was something in that mess of code that he could somehow pick up on, then walked past it. Frisk and Flowey did the same, but neither found luck trying to comprehend it. 

“Well, if she isn’t here, there’s only one other place she could be,” Frisk said.

“yep.”

The three of them stopped in front of the elevator. The one that led to the _True Lab._

“Wait.” Flowey stopped them before they stepped inside. He dropped from Frisk’s shoulder and pointed to the elevator with his leaves like it was some ungodly thing. “We’re not riding _that_ going there, right?”

Sans raised his brows, in the manner you’d give to a prissy teenager. “uh, yeah we are. how else do you suppose we get there?”

“Is there something wrong, Flowey?” Frisk asked.

Flowey’s face rumpled. “I hate elevators. They make me sick.”

Frisk and Sans took a moment to look at each other. Seemed they shared the same confusion. 

“Why?” Frisk asked. 

“You’re really gonna ask _why_ ? I am literally _rooted_ to the ground.” Flowey even pointed his leaves down to emphasize his point.

“Just now you were riding on my shoulder…” Frisk said.

“You don’t notice cause you’re stupid but I’m still attached to the soil even when I do that.”

He did a little display of how it worked. Even though he would wrap his stem around her arm, his vines coiled all the way down her leg. She lifted her boot. From the sole of her foot, he really was still rooted to the ground. 

Frisk blinked, astonished. “No wonder my right leg always felt a little heavier…”

“Yeah. _No wonder._ ” Flowey rolled his eyes as he plopped back down to the floor.

“But Sans sometimes pulls you out of the soil…” 

Flowey grunted. “You think I enjoy that?”

“But how'd you stay rooted even though we crossed a bridge over lava?”

“STOP ASKING STUPID QUESTIONS!” He flailed his leaves. “It’s just how it is! Let’s just use another way in!”

“there _is_ no other way in.” It was Sans’ turn to roll his eyes. “just suck it up, weed. it’ll only be for a minute or two.” 

He stepped inside and Frisk followed him. But Flowey remained outside.

“I don’t care what you say, I am _not_ riding that.” He, literally and figuratively, planted himself firmly on the ground.

Sans and Frisk stared at him. Then, Sans grinned. “then we’ll see you when we see you.”

“Huh?” Flowey’s scowl dropped. _They wouldn’t–_

“Sorry, Flowey!” Frisk put her hands together, giving an apologetic smile. 

“Hey, wai–”

“see ya later, _elevator._ ”

“AAARGH–”

The elevator doors shut. 

Sans grinned as if nothing was more satisfying than seeing the weed dance around on his stem as he closed the doors on him.

The noise ebbed away as Frisk and Sans were left alone. With the exception of the elevator’s vibrations, everything was quiet.

With all that happened since their last encounter, they were able to avoid this conversation as much as possible. But now, the amount of things unresolved cut through between them, rearing its ugly head like all it wanted was to be noticed. But neither wished to avoid it any longer, anyway. 

So in the stillness of the scene, Sans was the one to start a conversation long overdue.

“hey kid.”

Frisk turned to him.

“guess i should take this chance now and say…” Switching his gaze from the floor to face her properly, he offered her a smile. 

“i’m really sorry.”

She said nothing yet, listening intently.

“i was wrong to act like i was any better than the both of you.” His head was low again. “i know that…we’ve gone through a lot for a really long time. well, technically time didn’t actually move, but you get what i’m tryna say.” 

He shrugged. “look, i can’t say that i forgive you or the weed yet for all you’ve done with the timelines…or say that i’m completely on board with what you want.”

Frisk’s gaze wandered away then. Even with her ideals, she was well aware of where she came short.

“but i want you to know,” she met his pinpricks, and was surprised to see that he had such a gentle smile on — gaze soft, free of the hard feelings that the same eyesockets used to glare at her with.

“that, the you right now, i can bring myself to trust.”

Caught by surprise at his words, Frisk looked like she had to convince herself to believe them.

“as for why, well, i guess you could say that you managed to crack through my thick skull, heh.” He knocked on his cranium and winked, hoping to get a smile. Her lips curved up a tiny bit, and that was okay with him.

“you got to prove to me that you really _do_ just wanna save everyone, don’t you? and i can’t just deny a sentiment like that. it’s just as you said, i’m not one to talk.” He chuckled to himself. He didn’t think he had it in him to be this down-to-earth with himself. But he figured child’s play ended only if one decided to become an adult. 

“i probably said it to you a million times before, kid, but this time it’s real — i’m rootin’ for ya.”

He closed his eyesockets. “if you wanna save the weed and take him to the surface with us, then i won’t stop you anymore.” 

Frisk let those words soak in. Sans was not the type of Monster that budged unless he wholeheartedly believed in something that needed him to. For him to be placated like this towards Flowey, something must have really changed in him. They even seemed to reach an understanding with one another, and what amazed her more was she didn’t have to really do anything for that to happen. They did it on their own.

A warm feeling spread across her chest, unable to keep herself from smiling.

Sans opened his eyes, and smiled back. “you’re respectable ‘cause you have beliefs, kid. won’t tell ya you’re right all the time, but at least you know what you’re talking about. so, i trust you.”

Frisk held herself back from tackling him with a hug then. This was the first time, in all these time loops, they got a chance to truly meet one another. Now, their friendship finally started to feel genuine. Frisk faced him fully then.

“I’m really sorry too…” she started, “I put you through a lot and…I know it won’t be easy to forget about all that.”

Sans let her speak, on the listening end this time.

“But with the RESET button gone, my days of bringing us back here again and again are over.” Frisk stared at her palms. 

“The power had to be out of my hands for me to realize these things were never under my control. I had the ability to make things better, so I used it, no matter what it cost. But, now that I’ve got a taste of losing it, I realized…” 

She closed them into gentle fists. “It had to end sometime. I can’t afford to let us stay stuck here forever, even if I did have good intentions.”

Frisk lifted her chin. “If the RESET button returns after we fix your SOULs, I don’t want to use it anymore.” 

Sans blinked, and thought it was amazing how this kid could look like she was ready to save the whole world. 

“There’s only one thing I want to do now, Sans. And that’s the ending that gets all of us out of here alive.”

She stared at her blurred reflection on the old silver, enclosed by the four corners of the elevator door. “You were right. I _have_ been trapped here. But now that all this can come to an end, I’m more determined to make sure that it does. Properly. With no one left behind.” 

Their eyes met, and with earnest valor even in the gentleness of her voice, she said, “I’ve taken away our future long enough. Now, it’s all I want us to have.” 

And Sans was so elated by that, the thought of treating her to Grillby’s for the next ten years didn’t sound too bad.

Frisk put her hand out, beaming from ear to ear. “So, are we really friends now?”

Sans’ smile brightened, and he took her hand with gusto. “ _really_ friends.”

After several repeating timelines, Monster and Human, finally well acquainted, shook on it.

Laughing, Frisk couldn’t stop herself anymore and threw herself to him in a hug.

Sans jolted, but gave a little chuckle, and stroked her back. She nuzzled her face in his shirt. 

They let each other go after a good five seconds, and all was quiet again – peaceful, refreshing, and new.

After a while, Frisk said, softly, “Sans, when we get to the true lab…”

Sans looked at her curiously, but she kept her gaze in front of her.

“I’m going to need your help with something.”


	13. Never Move On

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You know nothing.

After they arrived at the True Lab, Sans and Frisk wasted no time running to the sounds of strident cries and whimpers. 

The monitors that used to have entries flashed and blinked like the entire system controlling them failed. Frisk glanced a second long, and grasped one word that showed:

“ERROR”

She gulped, a cold sweat rolled down her cheek as they ran. It was exactly like the ERROR message she saw in the Ruins.

They made it to the room with the multiple beds. There were more clutters of papers, books, pens, pencils – all that must have been unceremoniously flung across the room at some point.

Alphys sat on a mattress, her head low and face covered with her paws. The Amalgamates quivered in fear beside her, crying and moaning as if they’d witnessed something utterly terrifying. Frisk noticed something then, and once she knew it, her trepid eyes were locked on Alphys.

“…Where’s endogeny?” 

Alphys sniffled, curling around herself more, weeping.

Frisk and Sans faced each other with the same anxiety then.

Sans stepped forward and put his hands on her shoulders. “alphys.”

She mewled, but Sans gripped her firmly, shaking her. She was forced to look up, showing him her sore eyes and her runny, red nose. She looked more miserable than ever.

“what happened here?”

“I-I-I –” She was hysterical, unable to form anything comprehensible.

For the next few minutes, Sans and Frisk had to calm her down, telling her to breathe. It wasn’t easy, with her always falling into self-loathing, avoiding all explanations. Sans knew they couldn’t waste time, so in his impatience he became quite harsh with her, telling her to accept what she’d done with the amalgamates after all this time. 

Frisk knew she couldn’t stop him or intervene, even when Alphys could barely hold it together. She instead focused on pacifying the Amalgamates while Sans tried to get Alphys to talk. 

Once she was more or less back to her senses, her eyes were on Frisk.

“The…the human?”

“long story. i’ll save it for later. right now, i need you to tell us what happened.”

Sniffling, she nodded. “T-this way…”

She led them to the room with the many refrigerators.

One of them shook violently, trying to contain something. A chill crept along Frisk’s spine the closer they got to it. It wasn’t the first time a fridge just randomly shook in this room, but it wasn’t the same one. That was what put her on edge.

Alphys opened one – thankfully one that kept still – and brought out a petri dish containing what she told them was a sample of what she dealt with.

The moment Alphys started to talk about a mysterious black creature that attacked them, Frisk couldn’t help her yell, 

“Oh my God, _another one?!_ ” Her hands slapped on her cheeks.

In the petri dish, there it was – a sample of the Mavrocyte. Similar to what she and Flowey encountered on the bridge. 

Alphys seemed still too dejected to care about Frisk’s exclamation, as she held it out before them. And while it was just a tiny piece of what they had actually seen, it was enough to make Frisk squeak and hold onto Sans when Alphys opened the petri dish. It moved towards them.

“A-anyway,” she closed it before it could get close to the edge, “it was a small, s-sort of weak creature, b-but it was deadly…”

Sans’ frown deepened. “so, endogeny…”

Alphys nodded, eyes darkening. “It…it _ate_ them.” 

The silence that enveloped them after was thick and numbing. 

Alphys put the petri dish back in the fridge and shut it hard, its slam echoing through the empty corridors. She kept her hands against the door for a moment more, before she turned to them. 

“I-I tried everything I could to get rid of it…b-but I didn’t find any luck. And I didn’t want to lose anyone else…s-so I locked it in there.” She pointed to the refrigerator that Frisk noticed earlier. Sans and Frisk didn’t want to risk opening it just for them to see, so they nodded to her.

“I-I spent the whole day looking through books and old papers to find out what that _thing_ w-was. B-but I could never get close to an answer. T-the only thing I found out was that it wouldn’t consume anything e-else, li-like flowers or chemicals or…me…”

Frisk’s eyes stayed with her, troubled by what that last word entailed, as her heart wrenched. 

“S-so I narrowed it down to that i-it was after m-maybe…” Her eyes briefly landed on Frisk, wary of disclosing something mortifying in her presence. Little did she know, Frisk knew about everything she did down here. How she extracted determination from the human SOULs they had, how she experimented on it with the ‘fallen down’, how all of that gave rise to the Amalgamates – _everything._ But Frisk couldn’t just tell her that then.

She just knew that Alphys was probably going to say that it was after anything with determination.

Sans’ pinpricks disappeared for a moment as he delved into thought.

He had done his own experiment. It did not eat other Monsters. It only consumed the three of them, so he thought it was only after the three of them. Because they were _errors_ thanks to the junk they did with the RESET. 

But it ate endogeny, a Monster amalgamate that had nothing to do with their timeline shenanigans. So he could only conclude that it was after everything with a certain amount of determination. 

He put his hand against his temple. The more he slowly came to understand what they were dealing with, the more his bones felt chilled. But he just needed to look at one more thing before he could make his conclusion. 

“where did it come from?” he asked.

“W-well,” Alphys fidgeted. “I-I looked everywhere for its possible source, a-and only found this.”

She guided them to the far corridor where it led to the large room with the red elevator button. Along this corridor were the two monitors that, in all of Frisk’s timelines here, were somehow the most odd. These were the only monitors that changed what they said, displaying smiley faces whenever she was done with her work down here.

Smiley faces that reminded her of _someone_ a lot. 

When they got there, the second to the last monitor was broken, dripping with black liquid.

“T-this is where I got my specimen, s-so it must have come from here.” She glanced at Frisk. “I-I don’t think you should get too close…”

Frisk nodded, but then her eyes caught something else that was on the other monitor, next to the elevator’s control room. 

“Huh?”

“O-oh, _that_ …” Alphys rubbed her face, groaning.

Sans eyed her. “what’s up?”

“T-the thing is, t-this wasn’t even my only problem. E-everything just suddenly – started malfunctioning today, you know…?! I-I even have to deal with this confusing ERROR message I keep getting on the CORE’s status!”

As they talked, Frisk walked past where black liquid oozed, over to the blinking screen at the other end of the hallway. She read ‘ERROR’ earlier, but there was something else that appeared that she couldn’t make out, what with the pixels that kept getting in the way. 

“I-I tried rebooting it afterwards, b-but it just ended up showing me this messy code that I had no idea how to read! N-no matter how many times I restarted it I couldn’t pull the system up anymore…! I-it’s all just so- so…!” She covered her face again; all she wanted to do was scream.

Sans took her shoulder to try to calm her down, eyesockets narrowed as he took in this information. It was the coded message that he saw earlier.

“keep it together, alphys. now, i need you to tell me. what did the error message say?”

Frisk stopped in front of the monitor.

Alphys wiped her nose and faced him.

Frozen in her spot, Frisk looked up at the screen, eyes wide open.

Flickering on all of the screens of the True Lab was the word “ERROR”,

And “9999”.

Sans went stiff. He had to let that last piece of information get through to him for a moment because he didn't want to believe it.

He rushed to the monitor Frisk gaped at. Alphys followed suit. She knew Sans was once a brilliant scientist. Seeing how worried the normally lax skeleton was, she, too, began to panic more. 

“A-and believe me, I looked _everywhere_ and I still don’t know what the hell that means!”

Sweat beaded down Sans’ head. “that’s because everything about it is gone.”

Alphys shook her head. “W-what?”

“you know I was part of the CORE’s construction. after…certain things, a lot of the info we had was lost. but I still know what that ERROR message means.”

He curled his phalanges into a fist and slammed it on the screen. “it's reached maximum capacity!”

It blinked white for a moment at the force. Frisk jumped. Sans has never been agitated like this. Not in any timeline. 

“M-maximum capacity?!” Alphys exclaimed.

“there’s just _too much_ determination now. and now the CORE’s going haywire, because the void wants to eat up the Underground,” he said through gritted teeth. When he turned, he met their pale and slack-jawed faces. 

“in an attempt to fix itself, the void created that _thing_ , a mavrocyte, to get rid of anything that has determination, the _cause_ of its unrest.”

He placed his hand against the screen again, a crooked smile coming up to his face. “this is how perfect Gaster’s creation is.”

Alphys found a smidgeon of her senses, realization dawning upon her after she'd read so much about the surface world.

“I-i-it’s like…”

“A human circulatory system…” Frisk swallowed.

* * *

“Stupid smiley trashbag dumb skeletons and stupid striped sweatered trashbag-loving dumb human brats…”

Flowey grumbled, still fuming from being ditched. He dragged himself in the sweltering heat, left to figure out how to get there because he guessed they’d be considerate to anyone but him. _But WHATEVER._

It wasn’t like he was aching for them to care about him. Their pity was the last thing he wanted. So he would trudge his flowerly way through this impossibly torrid land, fussing and griping if he needed to.

He’s been here a while but the True Lab was never a place he was willing to go to alone – _too many memories –_ so he never bothered. But he didn’t have much of a choice now and that made him even more annoyed. 

He came across the elevator that had the big “L1” on it.

“Eugh!” His stem bent back and he stuck out his tongue.

“Stupid true lab and stupid elevators…” He turned around. This is why he hated Hotland. There were _way too many elevators_ and zero alternatives. Why were the Monsters in this part so non-inclusive of people with agoraphobia or something? Everyone was already claustrophobic down here.

_Just goes to show how STUPID all these Monsters really are._

“Like that stupidly conspicuous cloaked goat Monster.” He scoffed. 

“Wait…” 

He stopped, finding a familiar figure from far away, coming out of the path from Waterfall. There were only ever thr – _two_ – goat Monsters in the entire Underground, and it wasn’t even hard to tell which one it was.

Clad in a pink cloak that only covered everything above her shoulders – the shape of her horns still visible even with it – Toriel snapped her head around, walking discreetly, as if wary of being noticed.

It was obvious who she was though – he didn’t get why she was acting so careful. Either that…or she was wary of something else.

Suspicious, Flowey burrowed into the ground.

In a few moments, he popped up in front of her. “Hey!”

Toriel yelped. But after seeing who it was, her shoulders eased. “Oh, it’s you Flowey. I haven’t seen you all day. Where did you come from?” she asked, eyes still darting about. Seeing her so tense made Flowey even more suspicious – but he had a clue why.

He glowered at her. “I could say the same for you. Where’ve _you_ been?”

“Where I have been is not your business,” she said as if to remind him of his place. This only made Flowey pull his lips down further.

“Now if you excuse me, I have to look for Sans. There is something I have to tell him.”

Flowey blocked her way. “It’s about that _thing_ , isn’t it?” 

Toriel raised her eyebrows. “What? You know about that?”

“Yeah, it’s been taken care of,” he said. “There wouldn’t be any point in seeing him about it.”

“Oh, but that’s not all. I have more that I have to tell him,” she said. “Time is of the essence, Flowey. Step aside so that I may go see him. I’m going to go straight to Asgore afterwards to have the Underground evacuated to the Capital.”

Flowey’s disdainful glare turned to panic. “What the – n-no, you don’t wanna do that!” He blocked her way again when she walked past him. 

“Stand aside, Flowey.” She stressed her words, keeping up an authoritative demeanor, and tried walking past him again. Flowey didn’t allow her to.

“You don’t know what you’re dealing with, old woman!” he yelled. “Just back off! There’s nothing _you_ can do!” 

Toriel hesitated, but then it was her turn to glare at him.

“…I can save a child’s life,” she said. Quiet but resolute. “I’ve failed many times. I will not allow myself to fail again.”

Taken aback, Flowey, couldn’t move when she pulled down her shawl and stepped past him, carrying the same regal air befitting of her former title.

He couldn’t block her way this time. Head down, agitated she might just ruin everything, he _knew_ he had to get her to stop somehow. He had to think of something to say.

But in his next words, he didn’t know what he was actually trying to achieve. 

“…Forget about her.” 

Toriel stopped in her steps.

“Actually, forget about all of them.” 

“What?” she whispered, but there was an edge to it that hinted to a building anger. A hint that Flowey chose to ignore, whether or not he picked up on it.

“I’m just saying, that would be easier for you.” He could feel Toriel’s eyes on him, but still faced away from her. 

“Don’t you think you’re just hurting yourself at this point?”

There was a long pause from the both of them.

Flowey didn’t know what drove him to say these things – these things that have been on his mind whenever he looked at her, but chose to never say, for reasons he chose not to dwell on. But thoughts have already materialized and become words. They were out in the open now, for only her ears. 

He heard Toriel give out a breath.

“Do not try to stop me, Flowey,” she said, returning to her earlier composure. “I will not have you distract me from doing what I must with your pointless blathering.” 

Toriel turned her heel to be on her way, but stopped herself before she could take another step. “Nonetheless…” 

Flowey tensed as he heard her tramp closer and closer from behind, increasing in speed with every step.

He wasn’t even able to let out a word when he came face to face with Toriel’s dark expression, eyes on fire with rage.

“Don’t you _ever_ tell me to forget about _any_ of my children, _ever again._ ” She jabbed her finger at his stem. “I will **_never_** forgive you if you do.” 

Flowey froze at the sheer hostility from her – she was more angry than Flowey had ever seen her before – even _way_ before.

“You know _nothing.”_ Toriel stood up then, straightened herself, but held her loathsome gaze.

“So get out of my sight.” She sidestepped, ready to leave him. “My child needs me, and you’re in my way.”

Flowey felt rigid. 

Suddenly he didn’t want to cower away from her, not when he was practically about to burst, watching her turn her back like that. Not when she had the _gall_ to speak to him that way.

Not after _everything he’s ever done_ , and everything _she never knew._

“ _I_ know nothing?” his tone dripped with acid. Toriel must have heard him again but did not bother stopping this time.

And that made Flowey’s rage spike. Now, he was out of control. “It’s _you_ who knows nothing!” 

“What?” Toriel turned back, her tone now angrier, but Flowey wasn’t about to feel threatened anymore. The heat around him just got hotter, and he wanted his glare to burn her.

“You have no idea what’s going on here! You don’t even know who your children really are anymore!” he yelled. “How do you even live with yourself every day?! I can’t _bear_ to look at you without wanting to gouge my own eyes! Everything you do makes me _sick_!”

Toriel clicked her tongue. “I do not have time for –”

“Every child that falls down here it’s all just _my child, my child, my child_! You’re pathetic!”

Flowey gritted his teeth. “Your _real_ children are _gone_ ! Why don’t you do something good for yourself and just _move on_?!” 

... ... ... ...

["Move on?"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24vsvHsyq1c)

She said quietly, but so horrendously biting that it forced Flowey’s rage out of him like a punctured can.

The glint in Toriel’s eyes disappeared. She looked at him devoid of any benevolence. 

“The very moment I saw _my own son_ disappear before my eyes, time stopped moving for me.” The steps she made toward him were steady, her fingers wrinkling her dress. 

“ _Move on_ ?” and her voice was cold blooded. “The day I took his body from that wretched coffin, carried him all the way to the Ruins, and let him lay there to rest with my _own two hands_ , was the day I discovered time was my enemy.”

Grievous as a thousand tormenting cuts, she said, “When all I feel is heartache, _every waking moment_ of my life, with no time and place where it ceases to torture me, I can _never_ move on.”

She stopped a foot in front of him – a stormy mountain that loomed, but a mountain that cried in agony, yearning for a daylight that it hasn’t seen in centuries. 

And Flowey was back to wanting to cower away – when she locked down on him in that haunting, cold manner that he wished he lived without. 

“Do not ask me to do the unimaginable.” Her speech was calm again, but the tense, stomach-turning air remained, as she said,

“Telling a mother to move on from her own child’s death, is telling her _to die._ ”

Toriel turned, leaving him with the view of her back. With the rise of her shoulders, he knew that those words would be Toriel’s final raw display of emotions to him.

But being unable to see her expression did not make Flowey feel secure. No, he was only more terrified. She just put up a wall between them. A tall, thick wall that disconnected him from her, awakening a feeling in him that was desperate to break it down.

"Saving that child is not going to take my failure away…” she muttered, but this time, she seemed to talk to herself. 

Toriel straightened. “But what would you understand from it? This conversation does not matter. I _must_ find Sans."

With that, she crossed the bridge, and left Flowey behind.

As Toriel walked further away from him, that distance hurt him more and more until he couldn’t deny that it did.

Flowey picked up that Toriel took in the human children because she was driven by a sense of failure. He always thought she did so because she wanted to feel whole again. That’s how he believed all people worked after toying with them many times. No matter what, there was something of personal gain tied to every ‘compassionate’ act. It’s why he kept rejecting Frisk. It’s why he rejected _anyone’s_ help. Because how is it compassion when there is something you always have to gain from it?

Isn’t that just _pity_?

But Flowey wasn’t sure what to believe anymore. 

He gulped. Ever since he discovered she couldn’t help him feel again, he always held contempt towards her. But now, things became clear.

This was why she couldn’t help him when he was trying to feel love. It was taking everything in her to help herself.

Something tugged on Flowey’s insides again. This time it was so strong – _too_ strong – that he couldn’t keep it down anymore.


End file.
